


You've got to be what tomorrow needs

by puppybusby



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, BAMF Allison Argent, F/F, Friends With Benefits, Fuckbuddies, I have no idea how to tag, Light Dom/sub, Minor Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Minor Stiles Stilinski/Danny Mahealani, Minor Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Virus, basically i have not planned this through very well, kind of? they aren't really friends but you get my point, past Danny Mahealani/Jackson Whittemore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:23:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 89,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1933821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puppybusby/pseuds/puppybusby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allison tensed, listening to the sounds of movement around her, she took a deep breath and forced herself to stay still, to listen past the way her heart hammered in her chest<br/>The sun was fading fast, desperately needed light quickly becoming short in supply, it wouldn't be long until she wouldn't be able to see<br/>She'd be even more vulnerable to attack<br/>A howl broke through the silence somewhere behind her, followed quickly by three shots, ringing out in quick succession<br/>"Man Argent, you just missed one hell of a shot" Erica's voice crackled over her comm</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's the start of the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next thing Allison remembers is being barricaded into Scott house, screaming and gunfire heard outside, Scott and Stiles watching with wide eyes as Melissa crouched in front of Allison, sewing up her hand  
> That was the day everything had changed  
> The day the Omega virus made itself known  
> It also happened to be the day she had met Derek Hale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic title taken from "Sing" by My Chemical Romance  
> Title from "Empire" by Bring my the Horizon

 

Allison tensed, listening to the sounds of movement around her, she took a deep breath and forced herself to stay still, to listen past the way her heart hammered in her chest  
The sun was fading fast, desperately needed light quickly becoming short in supply, it wouldn't be long until she wouldn't be able to see  
She'd be even more vulnerable to attack  
A howl broke through the silence somewhere behind her, followed quickly by three shots, ringing out in quick succession  
 _"Man, Argent, you just missed one hell of a shot"_ Erica's voice crackled over her comm  
Allison sighed and reached for the device fastened to her jeans, keeping her gun trained in front of her, Allison flicked the switch  
"You mean three shots Reyes? I think the entire compound heard it"  
 _"In her defence"_ Stiles' voice chimes in _"There were more than one wolf"  
_ _"How many are left?"_ Derek's voice joins the conversation  
 _"Just one I think, this pack was bigger than normal"_ Danny supplies  
Allison moves slowly through the trees, keeping her finger on the trigger, "We need to get back to work guys" she replies  
 _"Allison, where are you?"_ Danny asks  
Allison looks around, she thinks she can hear water somewhere to her left, she looks around for any more definitives signs, the darkness setting around her makes it impossible to see anything around her, it's too risky to use her flash light, it'd draw even more attention to her. Allison follows the sound to where she hopes the stream lies  
"Sector three" Allison replies "I think" she adds hesitantly  
 _"We should head back"_ Scott speaks up, it's the first Allison has heard from him since they all split up after leaving the compound  
"We're not heading back" Allison snaps, somewhere to her right she hears rustling, probably just a squirrel, but they haven't survived this long by making assumptions  
 _"Allison's right"_ Derek says _"We don't go anywhere until the entire pack is gone, we're not losing anybody else to these wolves"  
_ A solemn silence fills the woods and Allison reaches the stream, keeping close to it, if she followed it she would end up back at the trail that would lead her home. The silence over the comms stretched on for several minutes  
Allison could understand why, the wood surrounding the compound had been safe, consistently maintained by patrols  
Until bodies began to turn up, people reporting seeing wolves and nobody believed them  
Until people showed up with bites  
Infected  
It had only led to more bodies, Allison had heard stories of other compounds, they gave the infected a chance, to see if they would bond, no such luck in Beacon Hills, not any more, if you were bitten you were shot.  
It was really quite simple  
“ _Allison, I’m on your six, I’ll be five minutes"_ Danny spoke up, his voice felt forced  
"Okay" Allison replied, she flicked the switch and fastened it back to her waist, she felt a lump in her throat. It had taken four days after the first infected victims to discover the break in the perimeter, anger sparked amongst the compound immediately, Beacon Hills was supposed to be the safest place in North America from the wolves  
From the virus  
And that was why they had been called out, it wasn't their division, but Peter had insisted and well  
Nobody said no to Peter Hale  
A low growl from her left broke Allison's thoughts, she span to the origin of the sound, gun trained into the brush, searching for movement, her fingers tensed over the trigger, muscles tightening and this was the moment she hated. The moment where she just _knows_ there's something there, something waiting, it always turned into a game, first to blink was the first to die. The moments stretched on and Allison could feel her body begin to shake from the adrenaline coursing through her veins, body beginning to ache  
Another growl and the sound of twigs snapping made Allison spin to her right just as pair of yellow eyes, black hulking figure leapt towards her, Allison fired off four shots in immediate succession the wolf letting out a pitiful whine as it drops to the ground by her feet, she nudges at it with her foot and in the last rays of light she can clearly see the thick blood oozing from it, tongue lolling from it's mouth. Allison let out the breath she had been holding for what felt like an eternity, lowering her gun and feeling the tension slip from her shoulders  
Rookie mistake  
Allison span in time to see another creature, fur matted and blood soaked, Allison lets out a yell and brings her arms up as it connects with her, the force throwing Allison backwards and sending her gun flying from her hand, hitting the stream with force, winding Allison as her back meets rock, one arm pushed underneath the wolfs throat as it snaps at her, breath hot against her skin. Allison's free hand moves to the knife she keeps strapped to her left thigh  
Up close she can see the black veins sticking out where the fur has been stripped away, the tell-tale sign of the infected  
All wolves have it, there isn't one in the entire country who isn't infected now and they're growing, they outnumber humans  
The wolves are taking back the land  
Allison's hand grips around the blade and pulls it free, just as she moves to plunge it into the beasts chest a shot rings out, deafeningly loud as the entire left side of the wolfs face explodes, blood splattering against Allison's face and becoming a dead weight on top of her, Allison hears birds fly from the trees, disturbed by the shot and suddenly the woods are silent once more  
Allison sucks in a breath, feeling blood beginning to seep into her shirt, with a grunt Allison pushes the wolf off of her "Ah fuck" she breathes out, rolling over and scooping a handful of water into her hand and wiping the blood from her eyes  
"Allison!" Danny runs up to her, gun trained on the wolf beside her as she finishes cleaning the blood from her face and neck, she pushed herself to her feet, grimacing at the water that has filled her boots, soaked her jeans and shirt, she turns to meet his steady gaze "Are you okay?" he asks  
Allison looks at the wolf by their feet and back at Danny "Shit, yeah, yeah I’m fine"  
"Did it get you?" Danny looks at her unsure  
Allison shook her head "No, I’m good"  
"You're sure?"  
"Of course I’m sure!" Allison pushed past him to grab her gun from where it lay by the stream "I'd fucking know if I was bitten Danny, don't worry. I'm not infected" a quick scan of her weapon shows it to be in working order, she clicks the safety on and holsters it. She looks up to meet Danny's watery gaze "I'm sorry" she sighs  
"I know, it's okay" Danny relaxes but he doesn't holster his gun "It's been a long day"  
"Eight hours running through the woods, yeah I’d say that's a good interpretation" Allison mutters as she shivers at the sudden chill in the air, not at all helped by her soaked clothes, she grabs her comm from her waist, cursing inwardly at the soaked device  
"You're soaked"  
"Good observation" Allison looked up at Danny, he was holding his hand out towards her, gun lowered slightly in his other hand  
"Give it here, I’ll fix it later, you go on ahead"  
"What about-"  
"I'll tell the others, you need to get out of those clothes before you catch your death" he chuckled lamely, Allison smiled back at him though it felt forced and Danny's expression told her he hadn't missed it "Seriously Allison, you're gonna be there tonight right?" He asked  
"Yeah" Allison nodded "Yeah of course, he'd be pissed I skipped out"  
"Always has to be about him" Danny laughed  
"Yeah" Allison replied, she could feel tears beginning to form and tried to force them down. Danny smiled back at her and finally holstered his gun, using his free hand to place it on her shoulder  
"Go, go shower, get clean clothes on and we'll meet you there okay?"  
Allison nodded again "It starts at nine right?"  
"That's right" Danny squeezed her shoulder briefly  
"Okay, I’ll see you there" she handed him her walkie talkie and turned quickly, following the stream down to the main trail, for the entire journey back to the barricade she didn't see another soul

 

It had been fifteen years since everything went to shit, Allison had been six during the height of the war, seven when the bombs dropped, destroying almost every major city, turning towns to wasteland and wiping out half the population within hours  
She had been seven when Lykaion corporation rose up from the ashes, from what Allison had learned, Lykaion already had a good foothold among society before the war, it had grown exponentially during it, their technology and pharmaceuticals playing a key role in their successes up until the fire of it's headquarters here in Beacon Hills mere months before the bombs dropped. They had only gotten more popular when the rest of the world labelled them a quarantine, nobody was allowed in or out of the country, a deal born out of fear of the virus and hatred for the war- though they still flew supplies over frequently, Allison didn't quite understand why they chose to do that  
Though she certainly wasn't complaining, it was because of those drops they had access to fuel  
Without fuel, well, her team may as well stop existing  
She remembers the day the wolves came, she, Scott and Stiles had been playing down from where she and Scott lived with Melissa. The screams had started up, distant at first and then what looked to Allison like a wave of darkness ran towards them  
Wolves, dozens of them, snarling and rabid  
Allison had watched the other inhabitants of the compound scatter, panic breaking out as teeth tore into human flesh, screams and blood, she lost Scott and Stiles in the panic, she remembers screaming out for them, remembers being knocked to the ground by a man who was easily a good 150 heavier than herself  
And then one of them were on her, bright yellow eyes and snarling  
Allison had reached over, hands closing over a shard of glass, crying out as it cut into her skin, she remembers the howl as the shard pierced it's throat  
Allison remembers a larger figure shoving the beast off of her, seeing dark hair and pale green eyes giving her a once over, a boy, no older than fifteen, pulling her up and into his arms  
The next thing Allison remembered was being barricaded into Scott house, screaming and gunfire heard outside, Scott and Stiles watching with wide eyes as Melissa crouched in front of Allison, sewing up her hand  
That was the day everything had changed  
The day the Omega virus officially made itself known  
It also happened to be the day she had met Derek Hale

 

"Bad day?" a voice broke Allison from her memories, she looked around to find herself at the barricade, two guards watching her with mild amusement, looking her up and down  
"I've had better" Allison mumbled  
"Where's your team?"  
"Behind me, you gonna let me in?"  
One of the guards laughed "Go ahead" he pushed open the door, stepping to the side to let her through "Oh and Allison?"  
Allison turned back to the guards  
"We're sorry you know, about your loss, your team must be cut up about it"  
Allison frowned back at them "Thanks" she muttered, turning away and continuing through the streets  
It wasn't uncommon for there to be few people walking the compound at night, but with the events of the last few weeks nobody dared leave their homes  
She cut through the alleyways until she approached the worn building she called home  
She kicked the door shut beside her and flicked on the lights, barely sparing a glance at her home, a small kitchen in the corner, door leading to the bathroom, another room containing a bed and a closet full of clothes, a rack of weapons   
Allison peeled her jacket off, throwing it on the back of the tattered sofa, pulling her shirt over her head as she moved into the bathroom

 

Allison left her apartment half an hour later, freshly showered and dressed in clean clothes, gun reloaded and holstered to her hip.  
“Allison” Derek's voice startled her, she looked to the right, Derek leaning against the wall of her building, arms folded, looking as serious as ever “Danny filled us in, are you okay?”  
“Yeah” Allison watched him give her a brief once over “What brings you here?”  
“Wanted to talk to you before we go” Derek pushed himself from the wall and gestured for Allison to follow him “The perimeter is closed, no more wolves are going to get through”  
“Good” Allison nodded “We lost too many people the last few weeks” Derek sighed “Derek?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Why did Peter issue that law? He knows that not everybody who gets bitten dies” She looks pointedly at Derek, watching as his hand moves to over his right arm, she knows the marks that lie underneath layers of clothing  
“And we both know how rare that is” Derek mutters  
Allison hums, the day she and Derek had met, she hadn't missed the bite marks in his shoulder, black veins sprouting out from the wound, he had told her with much hesitance that he and his sister had been bitten two weeks before while in the woods together, they hadn't told anybody.  
Nobody understood why Derek survived, Laura herself had deteriorated over the following weeks, exhibiting many symptoms until eventually falling into a coma  
She died three weeks later, Derek at her bedside  
Others weren't so lucky, 'rabid' they had called it, the person infected would turn mad, lash out, identified only by the varicose veins around their eyes  
Derek had been the anomaly, his bite healed, not even a scar remained, though the veins did  
They called it bonding  
Thirteen years had passed and Allison had seen many deaths, couldn't even begin to count the number of bodies she had seen  
But she could count those bonded on one hand  
Derek, Scott, Isaac, Boyd and Erica  
The Omega virus still remained a mystery  
  
Allison groaned as the familiar tower of Lykaion corporation stood out starkly, lit up like a beacon “I know Peter is your uncle and our boss and essentially the closest thing we have to a leader in this fucked up country, but damn that is an eyesore, he has to be compensating for something”  
Derek chuckled, ducking his head slightly “I agree, the amount of power that It takes up must be astounding”  
“Yet there's still no cure”  
“They're working on it”  
Allison sighed “I know”  
“You going to be okay?” Derek asked  
“You know me” Allison laughed humourlessly

 

  
They walked until they approached the ruins, passing the sign reading _Beacon Hills High School_ as they continued to walk. They walked past the building around the back to where they could see a congregation gathered, several pyres collected at the end of the field  
The school had been the only building truly damaged in the bombs, an irony not lost on Allison.  
She shared a nod with Derek and moved threw the crowds until she found Danny, Scott and the rest of her team hanging nearby.  
“Hey” She greeted, letting Danny pull her into a hug  
“Hey” He replied, clinging tighter for a moment. When he pulled away she looked over to the pyre they were near and moved over to it  
“Hey Jackson” She greeted, looking at the motionless body, he looked almost exactly the same, dressed in a fine suit, the only sign of anything different being the slight pattern of darkness peaking out from the collar of his shirt  
“You idiot” Danny muttered beside her “You stupid, fucking idiot”  
Allison reached for his hand and squeezed it tight, resting her head on his shoulder  
“Why did he do it Allison?” he whispered  
“I wish I knew” she sighed  
“We're lighting the pyres now” A voice startled them both  
“Mr Whittemore” Allison greeted “How are you?”  
Mr Whittemore looked to Jackson and sighed “Coping”  
“Yeah” Allison agreed “Yeah, us too”  
  
  
“Peter wants to speak to us tomorrow” Derek approaches where they're all sat, watching the flames  
“Anything specific?” Scott asks  
“We have a job”  
“Our actual job or another clean-up operation?” Isaac asked with a frown, ignoring the glare Allison and Danny shoot him  
“Our actual job” Derek nods  
“Thank god” Stiles sips at his beer, lying back against the grass “I can't be around here right now”  
“It'd do us all good to get out of here after this”  
“Hale, serious question” Erica regards Derek seriously “What's the story the boss is putting out?”  
“Rebels”  
“Seriously?” Erica exclaimed with a laugh “He's blaming the perimeter breach on the vox?”  
“Better the vox than the truth” Boyd mutters  
“Not only would it be bad for Mr Whittemore, it'd be devastating for Peter and our team” Derek folded his arms  
“But spin it so it looks like the rebels unleashed a pack of wolves on us, and Peter is the hero” Allison accepted the beer can Scott handed to her  
“Precisely” Derek nodded “Be at his office, nine am”  
Erica made a sound of legitimate agony  
  
  
  
Allison shared a look with the team before looking at Peter Hale from behind his desk, Derek sifted through the file “So this is it? Go to the location, pick up the package and bring it back?”  
“That's it” Peter smiled  
“That's so simple though” Erica sighed  
“Ah but it isn't” Peter leant back and placed his feet on his desk “Vox activity is up, another convoy was ransacked last night”  
“They're getting more confident” Danny mumbles  
“Wolf activity is up as well” Peter adds, “They're multiplying faster than ever”  
“Safe to assume checkpoints are going to drag this out even longer?” Stiles asked  
“You assume correct”  
“Great” Erica clapped her hands together “Let's go, then”  
Derek sighed “Meet at the main gates in two hours, deal?”  
Everybody voiced their agreements  
“Allison, a word if you please” Peter held a finger up  
Allison shared a look with the group, Derek nodded back at her. The door closed behind them leaving her alone  
“I'm sorry for you loss”  
“Thank you sir”  
“You're often the one in charge of taking care of the packages right?”  
“I have the most room in my car”  
“You prefer to work alone?”  
“I work in a team, but I like to drive alone” Allison corrected  
“Well, regardless” Peter clasped his hands together “This package is incredibly important to the future of the corporation, of this country. I trust you'll take the utmost care and guard it with your life until you can transport it to me”  
“You have my word sir” Allison nodded

 

  
“Allison!” Danny caught up to her as she walked the halls  
“What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting your stuff packed?”  
“Mr Whittemore called me back”  
“Ah”  
“He asked me to find you”  
“What?” Allison frowned “What for?” Danny shrugged and pushed the button to the elevator  
“He didn't say, he knows we're on a job”   
“Hold the elevator!” A voice yelled, Allison's arm shot out, blocking the door before it could close, a moment later a girl bounded in, files clutched to her chest “Thank you” She smiled   
“Any time” Allison shook out the slight ache in her arms  
“I'm Kira, Kira Yukimura” Kira looked to Danny and Allison in kind  
“Danny, Mahealani”  
“Allison”  
“Which floor?” Danny asked  
“Oh” Kira gestured to her white coat “Labs” she reached over and pressed the relevant button  
“You work in the labs?” Allison asked  
“That's right!” Kira beamed “What?” She frowned after spotting Danny and Allison's confused expressions  
“Nothing!” Danny held his hands up “It's just...”  
“What?” Kira demanded with a pout   
“You're so young” Allison finished Danny's sentence   
“I'm twenty! I'm like the same age as you!”   
“Exactly” Allison replied “I'm twenty-one by the way” She added  
“I thought people who worked in the labs were middle aged and boring” Danny muttered under his breath  
“Yeah” Allison agreed “You're young and cute”  
“You think I’m cute?” Kira beamed. Allison shrugged and leant back against the wall of the elevator as she felt it descend through the levels “That's my self esteem boost of the day. What do you two do?”  
Danny and Allison shared a look “Transporters, primarily” Allison supplied   
Kira made a sound of realisation “You guys were behind the clean-up yesterday weren't you?”  
“You know about that?” Allison asked  
“I work in the lab” Kira rolled her eyes “It's not very often we get new wolves to work with”  
“Trying to find a cure?” Danny asked  
“That's the goal” Kira smiled “But my research is trying to understand the different variations of infection”   
“Bonding, rabid and death” Allison spoke, she had seen all three over the years   
“Exactly, why is it different from person to person? That's what I want to know”  
The elevator doors open and Kira steps out, albeit reluctantly “It was nice to meet you both”  
“Likewise” Allison smiled   
“We'll see you around?” Danny asked  
“Maybe” Kira grinned  
“Before you go” Allison stuck her hand out once more to stop the elevator doors from closing “We've never seen you before, why?”  
“Oh” Kira turned back to face them “I moved here from further north, Mr Hale liked my research and asked for me personally”  
“You must be good then”  
“Oh,” Kira smirked “I put all of my soul into my work”  
“So where do you live? We'll look you up when we get home”  
“Here” Kira gestured “I live in accommodation on the fifth floor”   
“Ah” Danny nodded slowly “We'll hang out when we get back then”  
“You've got a job?”  
“Yeah” Allison stepped back “Standard transporty stuff”  
“Have fun!”  
“You too” Danny waved   
“Yeah, good luck with the whole virus thing” Allison added as the doors closed

  
“What do you think about the job?” Allison asked  
“It'll be a good distraction” Danny sighed  
“Danny?”  
“Hm?”  
“You and Jackson”  
“What about us”  
“You were together weren't you?” Allison asked, Danny met her eyes  
“Yeah” he breathed out after a while “Yeah we were, how did you know?”  
Allison shrugged “You guys were so close”  
“So were you, you was like the only person he actually liked”  
“Think that's why Mr Whittemore is asking us here?” Allison stepped out of the elevator and nodded at a passing guard, eyes flitting briefly over the machine gun in his arms  
“Why do they need to have better guns?” Danny murmured “Shit all we have are hand guns from the nineties”  
“Erica has that shotgun” Allison points out  
“Which she _found_ on a dead vox last year” Danny frowned as they moved down the corridor “It doesn't count. We're supposed to be like top of the chain, yet we get all the leftovers”  
“We're not the top of the chain” Allison stops outside Whittemore's office, from what she learnt over the years he's in charge with communicating with other compounds, she remembers Jackson telling them that he used to be a lawyer before the war  
“Ah yes, Peter's precious bodyguards, how could I forget” Danny grimaced  
“Douchebags” Allison said as she knocked the door  
“Come in”  
Allison pushed the door open and stepped through, Danny close at her heels  
“Allison, Danny, how are you both?”  
“Coping” Danny replied, taking a seat opposite his desk, Allison mimicked his actions  
“You're leaving for a job today right? Picking up and then bringing it back here?”  
“That's right” Allison tapped the arm of the chair carefully  
“I thought so” he nodded thoughtfully “I had to place a call with the Cambridge Compound, that's where the package is” Mr Whittemore had his back to them, looking through a filing cabinet, Allison and Danny raised an eyebrow at one another “I'm guessing why you're wondering why I called you both here” He finally turned to them, file in one hand and a box in the other “Jackson had a will”  
Allison nodded, it wasn't a surprise, Derek had made them all create a will in the same breath he asked them to join his team- not the best sales pitch, but she had never had a reason to doubt Derek Hale before. If she remembered correctly, Mr Whittemore had been the one to officiate them all  
“He left you both these” he slides the box over to them, “the keys are for you Danny”  
Danny opened the box and pulled out the set of keys  
“Are these-”  
“For his car, yes”  
Danny clung to the keys like they were a lifeline  
Allison looked into the box and with a gasp, pulled out the sleek metal object  
“For Allison” Mr Whittemore read out “My gun, she was always jealous of it”  
“I totally was” Allison laughs, she turns away from him slightly to aim the weapon “Colt Anaconda” she shrugs when Danny frowns at her, inside the box lie three more smaller boxes of ammo and a holster “Thank you” Allison stared down at the gun in her hand and for the briefest moment, she could she Jackson's smug smile, smoke rising from the barrel after he had saved her ass after Stiles' Jeep had broken down in the wastelands one night  
They never travelled at night after that day, not unless they really had to  
“He wanted you to have them, I have to respect that”  
“We need to leave” Danny said regretfully “We have to meet the team soon if we're going to get to a motel before dark” Allison stared at him for a moment and he flashed her a small smile telling her they were lost in the same memories  
“Of course” Mr Whittemore nods “I never thanked you both by the way”  
“What for?” Allison falters as she moves to sit up  
“For being so close with him, after everything he went through he.... He needed friends, I'm glad he had you two and your team” “Of course” Allison smiled

They didn't speak again until they exited the tower, Allison breathing in the fresh air  
“I fucking hate it in there” she stretched her arms out, out of habit she checked her holsters, it'd take a while to adjust to the new weight of the revolver on her left side, but what it takes up for it's weight in power  
“It's so... Sterile”  
“Just think” Allison glances up at the tower “Most of our money goes into that company”  
“They do kinda run the country Allison”  
“Which is a bit fucked up don't you think?”   
Danny shrugs “It stops us all from dying, we get fed and we have good jobs with them”   
“Yeah, I guess”   
Danny smiles and slaps her on the back “Go get ready, we have to meet at the gates soon”   
“Danny!” Allison called to the retreating figure  
“Yeah?”   
“Don't forget about my comm will you?”  
Danny laughs “Don't worry about it, I got you covered”

  
  
“Allison!” Melissa beams “What brings you here?”  
Allison shrugs off her bag and drops it down by the door “Did Scott not tell you? We have a job”  
“He did, but I didn't think you'd come by”  
Allison's smile falters slightly “Of course I would, I couldn't leave without saying goodbye”  
Melissa's smile brightens as she moves across the room to pull Allison into a hug “And I’m glad you did, the house is quiet without you”  
Allison laughed “I'm sorry I moved out”  
“No you're not, everyone has to fly the nest at some point” She ruffles Allison's hair, forcing another laugh from the girl “How long can you stay?”  
“Only about five minutes” Allison sighed  
Melissa's smile dropped slightly “That's okay” she said eventually  
“Scott already gone?”  
“Left about ten minutes ago, you'll be late”  
“Worth it”  
“Not if you don't make it to a motel in time”  
Allison's smile dropped completely “You know about that?”  
“Allison” Melissa gave her a look, the _mom_ look “Just because I don't leave the compound doesn't mean I don't know what happens out there, people tell stories”  
“You mean Scott and Stiles”  
“Stiles mostly” Melissa nodded “Scott has nightmares”  
“We all do” Allison mumbled, it had been one of the reasons she left to be honest, the house she had shared with Scott and his mother growing up rested towards the very edges of the compound and at night, the ethereal howls of the wolves could be heard  
How they ever slept was a mystery to her  
After Derek had recruited her into his team and they started to leave the compound, started to fight against the beasts frequently, the nightmares became a constant companion in her life  
She moved out as soon as she could afford to, the guilt from being another source of worry for Melissa weighing her down  
“You're like a daughter to me Allison and you may be all grown up now but I still worry”  
“I know” Allison mutters “I'll come by more when I get back, I promise”  
“Yeah you better” Melissa grinned

  
Allison drove through the streets towards the gate, it was hard not to draw attention to herself, the occasional cluster of people scattering so she could get through  
Fuel was in scarce supply, so if you had a car it had to be for good reason  
Only the army and high level members of the corporation had legal access  
“About time” Scott grinned as she pulled up  
“Am I the last to get here?” Allison asked  
“God no, Danny hasn't turned up yet” Erica grinned from the hood of Boyd's car  
“Well if it isn't the Hale pack”  
Allison groaned internally and turned to the source of the voice  
“Deucalion” Derek greeted, his voice sharp and unwelcoming  
“Heading out I see” the man smirked. Allison looked past him at the members of his team, Aiden and Ethan glared back at her, the girl, Kali just looked bored “Did dear old uncle get bored of having you all around?”  
Allison heard another car pull up and glanced behind her to see Danny climbing out of what used to be Jackson's car, he raised an eyebrow in question  
“We have a job actually” Erica slid off the hood and approached them, stopping by Derek's side  
Deucalion hummed thoughtfully and looked over to Danny “I see, you're done with cleaning up your former team-mates mess then I see?”  
Allison's hand went for the revolver on her leg as she moved to the other side of Derek, anger rising in her stomach   
“When was the last time you had a job?” Allison spat out  
“Come on Allison” Stiles spoke up “He's Peter's right hand man, he _always_ has a job, if you catch my drift” Stiles waggles his eyebrows suggestively   
“You son of a-” Decalion starts forward, Allison pulls out her weapons, revolver in one hand, pistol in the other, the twins opposite her follow her lead, Erica pulls her shotgun from her back and holds it out at Kali  
Derek lunges forward and grabs Deucalion by his shirt and lifts him up in the air before slamming him down to the ground, kneeling into his chest  
“Don't you ever threaten my team again, do you hear me?” he growled, Allison kept her eyes trained on the twins opposite her, she knew Danny and Stiles had their weapons trained on them too  
“Break it up!” A guard by the gate yelled  
“Come on Hale” Deucalion grinned “Don't take everything so personal”   
Derek pushed off of the older man with another growl   
“Come on, we have work to do”   
“Lower your weapons” Derek orders  
Allison does so, slowly and reluctantly, holstering them back into place. They don't fully lower their guards until Deucalion and his team are gone  
“Assholes” Stiles mutters   
“Anyway” Danny drawls, turning to Allison “I fixed your comm” He threw her the device  
“Awesome! Thank you”  
“Okay Der, we're all here, what's the route?”  
Derek went to his own car and pulled out the map, setting it across the hood of his car  
“We're heading here” He points to the far right of the map “Cambridge, it has the second largest lab there”  
“So it's Omega related?” Boyd asked  
“It seems that way” Derek muttered, glancing around   
“Okay so it's a straight line pretty much right?”  
“Pretty much” Stiles agreed  
“Unless the checkpoints are closed off” Allison frowned  
“The boss said the vox were making more raids” Erica added  
“So there's a motel here” Derek pointed to a map “Near the ruins of a town called Aurora”  
“How long will it take?”  
“If we're lucky? Eleven hours”   
“That's cutting it close Hale” Allison frowned  
“I know” Derek sighed, running a hand over his stubble “But the more ground we cover the better”  
“Well” Allison straightened up “I trust your judgement”  
“Yeah” Scott agreed “We're all in”  
“We should head off then” Derek rolled up the map “I'll take point, Scott, Stiles, you stay close. Danny, you and Allison stay five miles back, Boyd, Erica, Isaac, you guys stay five behind them and keep an eye on our rear”  
“You got it” Erica winked  
“Okay, we're in a race against the sun here guys” Stiles clapped his hands together, “Let's get this shit started”   
Allison chuckled at his enthusiasm as she moved back to her car, it was a piece of rust to be honest, mustang, classic American muscle (according to Derek) it's bright red paint job often drew unnecessary attention, but it was her baby  
“Allison!” Danny grabbed her arm  
“What's up?”  
“Have you thought about why Jackson did it?”  
Allison faltered “Yeah” she sighed  
“Me too” He looked over to Derek   
“He thought he would bond with it” Allison says  
“He was an idiot”  
“He was your idiot”  
“Yeah”   
Allison squeezed his shoulder and moved to her car, climbing in and fixing her comm to the dock Stiles and Danny had fitted in last year  
The warning alarm rang out and Allison watched the gate to the outside began to open slowly.   
She glanced up at the rear-view mirror at Beacon Hills, Lykaion tower standing out amongst it all  
She didn't feel all that sad about leaving  
In a few minutes they would be out in the wastelands

 

 


	2. There's nowhere else for us to go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But Stiles was a dreamer, he ate up these tales of the other countries, of a life without the virus- and yeah, that'd be great  
> But it isn't fucking realistic, nobody knows where the virus came from, only that it came sortly after the bombs dropped, this was their reality, they didn't know any other life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title chapter from "Empire" By Bring me the Horizon
> 
> Heads up, i tried to be clever about half way in and try to replicate a poster  
> but technology is a BITCH  
> So sorry about that

 

“ _Allison, just a heads up, Stiles' Jeep is making that sound again”_ Scott's voice invaded the silence. Allison hugged the steering wheel with her knees to keep the car straight as she pushed her hands through her hair, she reached over to the dashboard where her comm sat in the centre and flicked the switch, opening her end of the link, Erica's laughter filled the car before she could open her mouth to respond  
 _“Seriously? Shit, we've only been on the road for what? Two hours?”  
“Three actually” _ Danny joined in, Allison placed one hand back on the steering wheel and glanced up at her rear-view mirror, a short distance away she could see what used to be Jackson's car, the sun bouncing harshly off of it's silver paint job  
 _“Either way”_ Isaac's voice called from where she knew he was sitting in the back of Boyd's car _“We have what? Two days worth of driving and you're kicking it so soon”_ Erica's laughed only grew louder  
 _“Seriously”_ She gasped out _“Your car is a piece of shit_ ”  
 _“Why don't any of you ever insult Allison's car? That piece of crap is ancient!”  
_ Allison gasped “Just because it's a little older than all of yours-”  
 _“What year was it made Allison?”_ Stiles asked  
Allison hesitated, glancing out of the window and looking out at the seemingly endless desert, without the people to control it, nature truly was taking back the land  
“1969” Allison replied finally  
 _“Exactly, so that's what? Fifty? Fifty five years ago?”  
_ “Stiles” Allison settled back in her seat, reaching for her bottle of water and taking a long drink before continuing “First of all, my car only broke down once during a job and that was because of those fucking bandits who shot a hole in my radiator”  
 _“That was a disaster”_ Boyd muttered, Allison hummed her agreement, it had taken forever to patch it up enough to drive back to Beacon Hills only for them to find that the entire thing needed to be replaced  
Allison had been in a bad mood for weeks  
“Secondly, don't insult the girl who has to fix your Jeep otherwise she might just leave you behind” Allison smirks, she can hear Stiles grumbling to Scott, looking up, she can see his Jeep on the horizon and knows that Derek is just ahead of them, leading the convoy. The roads are empty, save for the abandoned car every now and again and the odd skeleton littering the side of the road, it was beginning to be more common to see a corpse, the reasons behind their death never really a mystery  
Sometimes Allison wondered what brought people out from the compounds, what It was like to constantly live on the road, exposed to the elements, the rebels, bandits and wolves  
The travellers were Allison's favourite people, moving freely between compounds, living on the open road and relying on hunting wild animals for survival (never wolf, nobody went near the wolves) telling stories and giving updates on other compounds  
They were the best source for finding out rebel and military movements, they had to be, considering they were technically breaking the law by merely owning a car.  
Allison wondered when the military would realise that it doesn't matter how hard they try, the world outside of the compounds was a lawless land

“ _I've reached the checkpoint, standing by. Make sure you all have your I.D ready”_ Derek spoke up, it was only then Allison realised that was the first time she had heard him speak since they had left earlier that day. It wasn't uncommon, much like herself, Derek preferred to drive in silence, using the peace to get lost within his own thoughts  
 _“Thank GOD”_ Erica groaned _“I'm fucking starving, is there a diner nearby?”  
“I'll ask the guards” _ Derek replied _“Hurry up”_  
 _“Allison”_ Danny spoke up, she could hear the grin in his voice _“Race you?”  
_ Allison grinned “You're on Mahealani”

  
 _“In my defence”_ Danny groaned _“I'm still getting used to this car”  
_ “Excuses, excuses” Allison grins as she came to a stop behind Stiles' Jeep shuts her engine off, reaching to the passenger seat for her pistol and flicking the safety off before holstering it- If it was a trap, Derek would have picked up on it by now, but it never hurt to be prepared, they had all heard the stories after all. She leant over and opened her glove box, feeling around until her fingers brushed across the cool plastic of her I.D  
Protocol says she should wear it at all times, especially when visiting military or Lykaion bases- neither being something she made a habit of doing. They left most of that to Derek, he was the nephew of Peter Hale, everybody knew who he was, they were just his team  
Allison climbed out of her car, nudging the door shut with her hip and wincing at the sudden heat that hit her  
“About time” Stiles greeted, hands resting on the front of his car as he stares inside, Allison nods at Scott and rests her hand on the popped hood  
“How's it looking?”  
“Hopefully it'll hold?” Stiles frowned, he pointed a thumb over his shoulder “Derek's asking where the nearest station is, Allison followed his thumb to where Derek is standing off to the side, talking intensely with a guard, there are about five in total guarding the checkpoint, all carrying machine guns or rifles, military grade Jeeps parked to the side in case of attack, barbed wire and a watchtower, she can see a small cabin styled building further away  
Poor bastards, one of the worst jobs they could get landed with is to guard a checkpoint  
It's a stupid idea if you stop long enough to really think about it  
“Move over” Allison nudged Stiles to the side  
“Thinking about the shortcomings of our great military again?” Stiles smirked  
“They get new weapons, new cars, shit loads of funding and they get paid to stand at a very ineffective checkpoint intended to stop rebel activity” Allison mumbles as she busies herself with searching for the source of the problem  
“You're just jealous of their weapons” Stiles leant against the Jeep and looked down to where Allison was focusing her attention  
“We build or find most of our weapons Stiles, you can't tell me it doesn't piss you off- What does it sound like again? The Jeep I mean”  
“As long as we have plenty of ammo I’m okay with that fact” Stiles shrugged “Oh it makes a-” Stiles breaks off and makes a sound that Allison can only attribute to sounding like a dying animal “Is that bad?”  
“You know it is” Allison moved back “All we can really do is hope for the best, this isn't the place for me to break out the tools”  
“Good news” Derek approaches them slowly “There's a rest stop about five hours away, we can settle there for the night”  
“Rest stop?” Scott asks, getting to his feet from where he had been sat in the small space of shade Derek's car offered  
“That's what the guards call it, it's a gas station, diner and motel all in one”  
“Holy shit” Erica exclaimed, honestly, Allison hadn't even heard the car pull up behind them, “The guys who own that place must be fucking badasses”  
“Is this all of them?” A guard interrupts them before they can say anything else. Derek nods at him “Great, I.D’s please”  
Allison holds her I.D between two fingers, watching as he checks them all one by one, looking down at their I.D's for a long moment before looking up at the owners face and handing them their card back  
“Allison?” He says  
“Yeah?”  
“Just Allison?” He frowns at the card and hands it back “Why is that?”  
“Orphaned” Allison answered quickly, taking back her I.D and sticking it in the back pocket of her jeans  
The guard nodded sympathetically “Not alone there”  
Allison hummed and forced a smile as he moved over to Stiles, not missing the look Derek and Scott were giving her  
  
  
  
 _“You're fucking with us Stiles”_ Isaac spoke up  
 _“I'm not!”  
“There's no way every house has internet in the other countries”  
“Not every house, but they have it in more places than we do”  
_ “ _Stiles”_ Danny sighs, and Allison laughs, she has a pretty good mental image for his expression right now _“Where did you even hear this?”  
_ _“I overheard one of those guards talking about it while they were checking us!”  
_ Allison rolls her eyes at the conversation, she didn't see the point in it, talking about life outside of their country, it wasn't like they were ever going to get out, just because they got the occasional drops of imported items, food, clothes, medicine (legal and not legal- the black market was still a very real thing after all and a lot of people still wasn't quite ready to face the reality of their lives) But obsessing and dreaming of what it would be like to have something like the internet in their home, why? What would be the purpose? How would it help their jobs as transporters?   
But Stiles was a dreamer, he ate up these tales of the other countries, of a life without the virus- and yeah, that'd be great  
But it isn't fucking realistic, nobody knows where the virus came from, only that it came sortly after the bombs dropped, this was their reality, they didn't know any other life.  
Sometimes Allison thinks that everybody chooses to forget that the very same countries who give them medicine to help the injured are the countries that contributed to them being like this today  
Allison sighed heavily and leant over to grab the box tucked into the glove compartment, setting it on her lap she rummaged through the cassette tapes, keeping an occasional eye on the road  
 _“I swear, imagine that much porn! Never again would you have to deal with old, possibly pre-owned magazines from the seventies”_ Stiles muttered  
 _“Yeah, Instead you get to watch Germans going at it, lovely”_ Isaac replied dryly  
 _“Porn is porn”_ Stiles replied   
Allison grabbed the tape she had been searching for from the box and shoved it into the cassette player “I'm putting music on, I’ve had enough of hearing about your dick Stiles” she dropped the box into the passenger seat “Der, how long till we get there?”  
 _“An hour”  
_ “Thank god” Allison replied “I'm turning off my comm”  
 _“Prude”_ Stiles mumbled  
“Scott, slap him for me will you?”  
As Allison flicked off the switch she heard a satisfying slap. Grinning, she hit play and settled back into the worn leather seat of her car and let the opening cords fill the small space  
One of the best decisions she had made was to get Stiles to help her install a cassette player, her car had been the only one in the group to not have one on account of it's age, it made the sometimes seemingly endless drives feel like no time had passed at all and often offered a great reprieve from the sometimes questionable topics of conversation her team found themselves on  
She could drive along and look out at the barren landscapes, the way that the land around them seemed to transition smoothly from desert to green fields to forests and ghost towns  
They lived in a beautifully fucked up country  
And now they were heading to the Cambridge Compound, they had never been this far East before, they mostly went North and South, this was all of their first times going to the East coast and the thought of what they were going to see filled Allison with a nervous energy  
The Cambridge compound supposedly also contained a military base and on the list of places of importance probably ranked next to Beacon Hills in terms of importance, the fact that the package was there told Allison that this job was something they couldn't afford to fuck up 

  
  
Allison was just slamming the door of her car shut when Derek walked out of the motel lobby, meeting her eye as he put his wallet away, to her left Stiles was gesturing wildly to Scott while smoke poured out of the front of his Jeep, Allison sighed quietly and looked at the sun, they probably had an hour, hour and half at best of sunlight remaining  
“They said we can stay the night, but only after the others get here and they've checked our I.D's”  
“What? They're not fond of bandits and rebels?” Stiles asked  
Derek raised an eyebrow “No, it's just that they want to make sure they wont have to smuggle us out should a military convoy come knocking”  
Stiles hummed “You gotta respect the people who have the balls to come out to the wastelands and run a business”  
Allison nodded her agreement and moved to the trunk of her car, opening it and grabbing the toolbox that rested at the back, Stiles was right, after the bombs, essentially most of the country was destroyed, all major cities that were still somewhat standing off limits due to the risk of being crushed by collapsing buildings damaged by the bombs (they belonged to the wolves and bandits now anyway) many towns destroyed or abandoned, not enough people left to populate them all  
But there was still a good handful of people who built a business for themselves, out in the middle of nowhere, almost alone save for maybe a few family members or close friends to own a business that gives people like Allison and her friends a place to sleep at night and a warm meal.  
She had even more respect for those who owned gas stations, they were sponsored by Lykaion and the military, stocked every few months with a fresh supply of gas and constantly a subject of attacks by bandits and rebels who needed gas for themselves  
Whoever owned this place were the real heroes here  
“Open her up Stiles” Allison walked around to the front of the Jeep “Let's see if I can fix this piece of crap”  
“If you can fix yours I don't see why not”  
Allison frowned at Stiles “Why you gotta be hating on my baby like that”  
“You did _not_ just call your car your baby” Stiles frowned back  
“You always call your Jeep your baby!” Allison retorted as she set the hood in place  
“Children, please” Scott muttered, Allison glanced over at the boy with a smile and watched as he lit up upon seeing Danny's car drive in, followed quickly by Boyd's  
“Derek, come give me a hand?” Allison asked the man. Derek shrugged off his jacket and tossed it into his car through the window  
“What's the problem?”  
Allison looked over to Stiles, watched as he went over to Danny and began to talk to him before looking back at Derek “It's the engine, it's had it”  
“Fuck”  
“Yeah” Allison moved back a bit  
“I mean, I know a few things we can try to hold it together” Derek scratched his head  
“But will it get us to the compound and home?”  
“Definitely not” Derek sighed, he looked at Allison “If it comes to it will you have one of them in your car?”  
“Definitely not” Allison replied immediately “Don't get me wrong” She held her hands up “I love them, Scott and Stiles are essentially my brothers, Scott especially” Derek hummed in agreement “But the thought of being in a car with one of them... All day...” Allison frowned  
“Jackson's car has enough room for them both if it comes to it doesn't it?” Derek asked, Allison followed his gaze to where most of the group were talking near said car  
“Yep” Allison nodded  
“Did he leave that to Danny in his will?”  
“Yeah”  
“Why not you?”  
“Because,” Allison leant against the front of Stiles' Jeep “He knows- knew, he knew how much I love my car and there's no way I'm giving it up”  
“Did he leave you anything?” Derek asked  
Allison hummed and pulled her colt from her left holster, handing it over to Derek. The man took it and studied it with an impressed expression  
“You always did love this gun” he pulls on the release on the left side of the gun, releasing the cylinder, he spins it once, smirking at the sound and flicking his wrist sharply, forcing it back into place before handing it back to Allison  
“Show off” She muttered, holstering it once more  
“Seriously though” Derek looks serious once more “Are you okay?”  
“I feel better today” She replies “Being away from Beacon Hills helps a tremendous amount” She adds with a shrug  
“And Danny?”  
Allison looks over to the boy in question “I haven't had the chance to talk to him today”  
Movement from the corner of her eye catches her attention, she turns towards the diner to see a woman who looks to be in her late sixties with grey hair and sat comfortably in a rocking chair, moving back and forth under the shade of the overhanging roof of the diner while she polishes the rifle in her lap, on the ground Allison can see a half empty bottle of beer and what appears to be a ball of yarn and knitting needles  
“Hi there” the woman greeted  
“Hey” Allison nodded, Derek turned to where Allison was looking and straightened up  
“Was wondering when you'd notice me” The woman called back, loud enough for the rest of the group to hear her “Feel free to come in, but,” she lifts the rifle “Cause shit, get shot”  
Allison ducked her head to hide her laugh  
“Also the pie is fresh, I baked it myself, it's apple”  
“Ooh I love apple” Stiles replied, practically skipping towards the diner  
“You coming?” Scott asked Allison  
“Nah” Allison shook her head and pointed at Stiles' Jeep with her thumb “I'm gonna see if I can give this a few more days of life”  
“We'll see you in there,” Derek added. Scott nodded at them again and followed the rest of the group into the building  
“Right then” Allison turned her attention back to the Jeep “Lets see what we can do”  
  
  
By the time the pair had made the vehicle less likely to spontaneously burst into flames while her adoptive brothers are trapped inside, Allison was covered in more grease and sweat than she would like to think about and was absolutely starving.  
Side by side, Derek and Allison entered the diner, their team, the old lady and a couple of people in the kitchen the only other occupants  
“What's the verdict?” Stiles asked as the pair sat at the table adjacent to the booth the rest of them were occupying  
“You'll be lucky to make it to the compound” Derek replied  
“Fuck” Stiles whined, dropping his head down onto the table. Scott and Danny shared a look on either side of him before patting his shoulder sympathetically “Isn't there anything we can do?”  
“Hope to find a engine that'll fit before it dies” Allison shrugged  
“If we don't, we're going to have to leave it behind” Derek added “There's no time for towing it”  
“Everything is awful” Stiles groaned  
“What about the pie?” Danny asked  
“The pie is fantastic and is the rainbow to the shittiness that is the fact my baby is on it's last wheels” Stiles mumbled into the table  
“Also we ordered for you guys” Boyd spoke up  
“We filled up all of the cars and the spare cannisters” Allison smiled up at the waitress as she set down a glass of water and a burger and fries  
“We're leaving at first light” Derek adds  
“That's so early” Erica sighs  
“Serious question, what's the sleeping arrangements?” Isaac asks, casting a not so subtle look at Scott, Allison hides her smile in her hand  
“All of the rooms are free, so you can either double up or sleep alone, whatever you want”  
Erica nudges Boyd's shoulder and the boy smiles down at her, Stiles is just poking at his food, a frown on his lips, Danny seems passive, but Allison can see the lingering sadness behind his eyes.  
“There's also hot water”  
“Fuck YES” Erica slams a fist down onto the table, cutlery shaking and startling Stiles “Oh man that is the best news ever. Hot shower? Yes please”  
Allison grinned at the girl, she had to admit it was something she was looking forward to now  
They ate in relative silence after that, mood lifted by the thought of hot water and a warm bed, they had spent too many nights over the last few years, curled up in their respective cars, ears attuned to every sound, gun loaded and ready in their hands while two other members kept watch  
Nobody ever really slept on those nights and there had been far too many close calls with wolves and bandits alike  
“Holy shit” Erica exclaimed suddenly, leaping over Isaac to get out of the booth. Allison watched her walk over to the noticeboard near the entrance and tear something off. Allison finished the rest of her fries as Erica returned, slamming the page down on the table of the booth, Derek and Allison had to leave their seats to see what had gotten the blonde all worked up.  
It was a propaganda poster, clearly old judging by the way the paper is clearly off coloured, tattered around the edges, the official seal of the Lykaion corporation at the top centre “Beware, Omega virus” in giant bold letters  
“Is this one of the original warning posters?” Stiles asked  
“A bit of memorabilia” the old woman from earlier spoke up from her chair, which she had somehow moved into the building itself. Allison moved closer so she could read the smaller text

  
 _WARNING! Beware of infected  
  
                                                                                                  Symptoms may include (But not limited to)  
                                                                                                             -Coughing       -Rash  
                                                                                                             -Fever               -Necrosis  
                                                                                                             -Headaches      -Cysts  
                                                                                                             -Pneumonia      -Insomnia  
                                                                                                             -Hallucinations -Vomiting  
                                                                                                             -Paralysis           -Coma  
_ _-Tumours          -Systematic infection  
_ _-Dysentery         -Pulmonary fibrosis  
_ _-Joint pain         -Muscle pain  
_ _-Anaemia          -Haemophilia  
_ _-Total organ failure_

 

 

 _ALWAYS CHECK FOR BITE MARKS  
                                                                                                     (Veins appear within two weeks of infection)  
  
How to know a loved one is infected:  
-They will be shifty, quick to hide the affected area  
-The affected area will ache  
  
IF A LOVED ONE IS INFECTED, PLEASE REPORT IMMEDIATELY  
  
  
                                                                                                                               WARNING  
                      If an infected human begins to act paranoid or show signs of insanity, they may be rabid. The victims eyes will turn red as the result of a burst blood vessel and may also bleed from the nose and ears.  
If the the infected victim suffers from varicose veins around the eye area, evacuate the vicinity immediately. Report to a member of the military  
Stay away from the rabid-  
  
  
  
_ The rest was cut off, but the message was clear.  
Basically, you were fucked  
“You know this is fucking old” Stiles groaned “Half of those symptoms aren't even a symptom of omega, I don't even know what dysentery is, that's not a symptom is it?” The rest of the group shook their heads  
“It's like a super intense version of nausea”  
“Well of course people are gonna be nauseas!” Stiles exclaimed “They've been infected with a deadly virus!”  
“It was in the early days Stiles” Derek straightens up and moves back to his table “Everybody was panicking”  
“You don't think I remember?”  
“You was what? Six when the virus showed up?” Derek folded his arms “So please, tell me more about how clearly you remember”  
“I remember my dad having his throat torn out by a rabid three months after we met you” Stiles replied cooly. Everybody dropped averted their gaze at the sudden shift in conversation, Allison's eyes flicked from Stiles to Derek, watching as their gazes didn't waiver from each other “So please, tell _me_ more about how I don't remember all of this” Stiles gestured down at the poster  
“Guys, please” Scott mumbled “We can't fight”  
“Scott's right” Danny agreed “We only just fucking lost Jackson, sure, we know more about the virus now, but we still don't know enough, we've all lost people we care about, there's no point in comparing emotional scars because it doesn't achieve anything”  
Derek was quiet for a long moment before speaking up again “I'm sorry Stiles”  
Stiles nodded “It's okay, I’m over it” he dismissed with a wave of his hand, but the way his shoulders sagged made it abundantly clear that he was hurt. Derek's words had hit Allison close to home as well, and judging by Scott he felt similar.  
Stiles' father had been as close to a father figure to the both of them, the same way Melissa was like a mother to Allison and Stiles, the three of them shared two parents and they were all present when Melissa had gotten the news about John Stilinski's death. He had been returning home after his shift in building the wall that now surrounds the compound when he had seen an argument quickly turning physical and, being the man that he was, he tried to step in, realising too late that the woman he had pulled away had been infected  
His body was found the next morning, the woman found and put down two days later after three more people were attacked by her.  
Stiles had moved in officially by the end of the week, sharing Scott's room in the already cramped McCall household.  
Derek was more or less a constant presence as well, often offering to help Melissa take care of the three of them (even though Stiles didn't really like Derek that much their mutual love of both Scott and Allison seemed to stop them from arguing constantly)  
Danny and Jackson had come later, Boyd, Erica and Isaac even later than that.  
And then Peter had proposed the idea of the transporters  
Derek had asked Allison first and she had jumped at the idea, a life stuck inside the compound wasn't what she had her heart set on to say the least.  
And despite all of their differences, they all brought something to the table, Allison had never seen somebody who could build a bomb out of rusty old car parts, a light bulb and the battery pack from a comms device, but somehow, Stiles had managed it, all of this happening while they drove through the streets of a city that was apparently formerly known as 'Los Angeles' while being shot at by a group of bandits.  
Danny could fix any electrical device, and was easily the smartest member of the team, Allison has always wanted to lock Danny and Stiles in a room together to see what they could come up with  
Scott was the level headed one, the calm one, Boyd too, if things got intense or stressful their presence alone would be enough to make you step back and evaluate your plan. Scott was especially good at talking to people, the amount of situations involving rebels and even the occasional bandit he had diffused with his words was incredible  
Erica and Isaac were wild cards, reckless and impulsive and sometimes that got them into all kinds of trouble, especially with Erica's fiery temper, but it brought a good balance to the team  
Jackson had been an amazing shot, even better than Allison (though give Allison a crossbow or a bow and nobody stood a chance)  
Herself and Derek were essentially a mixed bag, though they often found themselves gravitating towards fixing the teams cars, Derek was a natural leader, being the nephew of the head of the organisation credited with getting the country back on it's feet after the bombs dropped had it's perks after all. They were both easily the best drivers on the team and Allison excelled with a firearm  
Long story short, the people around her were her family, they had each others backs and she would take a bullet for any of them and she knew they would do the same for her should the occasion arise  
She's known them all for years  
The virus brought them all together  
Love kept them together  
And from all of the books Allison had read, she knew that was such a fucking cliché, but it was true, they were a broken little family who were trying to survive together in this equally broken world

 

"Well, this has been lovely" Erica pushes herself up from the table "But I have a hot shower calling my name, so goodnight losers"  
Everybody murmured their goodbyes and watched the pair disappear  
"You guys want any coffee?" the waitress returned, pot in hand  
"Real coffee?" Danny asked cautiously  
"You know it" The waitress beamed  
"Holy shit, yes" Stiles perked up immediately "I won't sleep tonight but oh my god yes" Allison, Derek and Isaac voiced their agreements and sat in awe as mugs were set down in front of them and filled up. Allison palmed her mug and watched Stiles and Danny take a tentative sip  
"Oh my god" Danny moaned "This is the best coffee ever"  
Allison shared a look with Derek and took a sip- Danny wasn't wrong, it was the best coffee Allison had tasted for a long time  
"Scott, seriously dude, you don't know what you're missing oh my god" Stiles looked like he was going to inhale the cup  
"You should try it" Isaac pushed his mug under Scott's nose, Allison watched in amusement as Scott steadfastly refused, no matter how hard Stiles and Isaac pestered him. Allison settled for sitting back and watching the three of them bicker, sipping her coffee and enjoying the moment for what it was  
You gotta enjoy the little things  
"Seriously" Stiles twisted in the booth and waved the attention of the old woman "This is my favourite place _ever._ Do you have working TV’s? Because that would seriously make my day"  
"Every room has TV’s, but the storm last month destroyed the signal, now all we get is the emergency channel"  
"Well..." Stiles managed to look thoughtful for about five seconds before sharing a look with Danny and both of them nodded "We can fix that"  
The woman looked surprised "You can?"  
"Totally" Danny nodded "Just give us like an hour"  
"You're nice boys"  
"We just don't fancy the idea of watching propaganda videos about the vox or having to see Peter Hales face for an extended period of time"  
"Seriously, that shit will give you nightmares"  
"If you fix our TV’s we'll give you breakfast on the house tomorrow"  
Stiles pointed a finger at the woman "You have yourself a deal"  
"Come" The woman gestured "I'll get you the keys"

 

Allison headed down to the cars, nodding at the man stood by the gate where they had entered, he would probably be guarding the area until morning, she popped the trunk and grabbed the two duffel bags she kept inside, one full of clothes, the other various weapons, she didn't particularly like leaving the majority of her belongings alone- it was too easy to get stolen  
Allison carried the bags with ease up the stairs and caught (with some difficulty) the keys Danny tossed her on his way to his own room, checking the key, Allison walked until saw door number seven and let herself in  
Flicking the light switch Allison scanned the room, it was nothing special, didn’t expect it to look extravagant, it had a bed, the sheets in a good condition, what looked like bible (of course) a TV and a bathroom  
It was probably on the same level as her apartment  
But that coffee had been a bad idea, because sleep was the last thing on her mind, her body was wired, groaning at her own stupidity as she dropped her bags at the foot of the bed.  
She settled for a workout, doing a variation of push ups, sit ups and even using the door frame separating the main room from the bathroom to do pull ups. She only stopped when he body ached with every movement, even then she still didn't feel tired, she could hear Stiles laughing at whatever he was watching in the next room, Allison moved into the bathroom, peeling her shirt over her head and throwing it down onto her bag as she went, it was covered in grease and soaked with sweat so she wouldn't be in a rush to wear it again, honestly, at this point it was probably of better use as a rag, Allison moved over to the shower and turned it on, as she waited for steam to fill the room she watched herself in the mirror, watching as steam crept along the edges, Allison reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace, gripping the bullet in her hand and letting the chain slide down her neck, Allison held out her necklace, letting the bullet swing freely, with a sigh Allison set the necklace down, pushing her thoughts back as she stripped off and stood under the shower, eyes fluttering shut in mute delight as the water cascades down her skin  
Stiles was right, this is the best place they've ever stayed  
Dressed in fresh clothes, boots lined up neatly at the side of the bed, Allison sat cross legged, back against the headboard, Erica had mocked Allison countless times for never changing into something more comfortable, Allison had argued that it was an unnecessary risk to let your guard down, sacrificing a bit of comfort was worth making a quick escape should things go south (which they did. Frequently)  
Allison eventually settled for checking over her weapons, making sure everything was working and in good condition, checking over ammo, loading her speed loader, something she never thought she would have a use for until she had inherited Jackson's colt, she sharpened her knives, she kept a few, always good to have backups after all  
By the time she finished checking over her crossbow, everything was silent, she couldn't hear Stiles next door any more and Allison was left wondering how long she had been sat there, the fact that her legs ached and she nearly toppled off of the bed as she tried to get up told her that it had been a long time  
Allison made quick work of packing away her weapons, leaving only her main pistol, revolver and knife out. Allison's eye caught the book beside the TV and grabbed it with a shrug, she wasn't religious, but a book was a book, dropping down to the bed and opening the cover Allison frowned, flicking through the pages, instead of seeing printed words she was met with hand drawn symbols, passages scrawled out in a random mess, sequences of numbers that meant nothing to her, as she flicked through the pages, becoming more confused and feeling a headache beginning to form from the strain of trying to make sense of the gibberish, rolling her eyes she tossed the book into her bag of weapons, she'd show Danny, see what he could make of it. She flicked the lights off and settled against the bed, closing her eyes and counting back from a hundred, trying not to let her ear linger on the distant howls

She gave up trying to sleep an hour later, pulling on her jacket and leaving her room, resting against the railings and looking out at the horizon, she rested her chin in her hand and glanced briefly at the stars shining overhead until she saw movement below, looking down, she saw Derek talking with the man she had seen earlier  
Making her way down the steps, she made it halfway before Derek picked up on her presence, muttering something to the man and meeting her by the cars  
"Can't sleep?"  
"I shouldn't have drank all that coffee" Allison sighed "It was damn good coffee though" Derek hummed in agreement "Can't sleep either?" she asked him  
Derek shook his head as they climbed up onto the hood of his car, Allison leaning back so she can see the stars clearly "Why?" She asked "Is it the job?"  
"And Jackson"  
Allison frowned "Why Jackson?"  
"I should have been more aware, I should have known he had been bitten, I should have been able to stop him from breaking the perimeter, because of me, he's dead along with countless others"  
"It wasn't your fault Der, these things happen"  
"I should have done more" Derek sighed and Allison sat up to nudge him with her shoulder, a small comforting gesture, there was a certain image Derek held, often being pegged as emotionless, broody, he was even called evil at one point. But he wasn't any of those things, he _cared_ he really did, he just had his walls built up high, it was something Allison could relate to, they just different sides of the same coin, he had lost almost his entire family in the fire and then mere months later, he lost Laura to the virus, while there wasn't a person in the country who hadn't lost _somebody_ to the bombs or the virus, but nobody had lost quite as much as Derek or Allison  
"He wanted to bond" Allison says finally, Derek's head snapped towards her  
"You're sure?"  
"That's what me and Danny think" Allison draws her knees up to her chin  
"But _why_?"  
Allison sighed and pushed a hand through her hair "You never told me, but are the rumours true? About being bonded"  
"Not all of them"  
"Which ones are?"  
Derek pursed his lips, Allison watched his hand subconsciously move along the expanse of his arm, settling on his shoulder "I don't have super strength or hearing or whatever fairy tale shit people are saying" Allison chuckled at his frown "I just... Feel more alert, like I have more energy than I know what to do with, my metabolism seems higher and I can work out for hours, and whenever I get hurt it seems to heal at a much quicker rate"  
"So the virus just made you...More energetic?" Allison's brow furrowed in confusion "And the reason you're incredibly strong is just down to you working out?"  
"Basically" Derek nodded  
"But Scott and the others are bonded"  
"They could use it to their advantage, they choose not to"  
Allison laughs "That's because they're lazy" she frowned again, if that was all there was to being bonded, then why did Peter issue the law that all infected be executed? She knows for a fact that Peter had issued many tests on Derek when he hadn't died from the virus, hadn't turned rabid and it had been established and confirmed that the virus definitely wasn't transferable from human to human, yet out of all of the bonded that had been tested, Derek was the only one to not be sentenced to death, after that day all infected were to be executed on the spot, Allison remembers long days where they had hidden Scott from the world, hoping and praying that he bonded, Allison and Derek had alternated sitting at his bedside, gun loaded, just waiting to see if he would wake up with blood filled eyes  
"I've never read about a virus that can kill one person, turn another insane and make the third stronger" Allison muttered  
"I try not to think about it" Derek replied "It's easier that way"  
"Eyes on the horizon?" Allison smirked and nudged his shoulder again  
"Of course"  
A long howl broke them from the moment, followed quickly by a burst of gunfire coming from near the gate  
"What do you think is waiting for us at Cambridge?" Allison asked  
"I can't even imagine" Derek leant back against the windscreen of his car   
“Do you know anything about it?”  
“Only that I need to meet with Director Blake and that when we get there it's possible I have to quote a reference code so they know we aren't imposters”  
“What's the code?”   
“I can't tell you, top secret, we can't risk anybody hearing it”  
"If it's that important, then why not have the military transport it?"  
"Because that would draw all kinds of attention, at least with us we can remain slightly under the radar"  
"What if it's to do with the virus?"  
"A cure?" Derek replied  
"Is it stupid to be optimistic about it?" Allison asked quietly  
Derek looked up at the stars and sighed "Of course not"

 

They never did go to sleep that night, instead befriending the guy guarding the gate and talking with him until the early hours of the morning  
Just as the sun was beginning to peak above the horizon, Stiles trudged into the diner, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand and groaning upon seeing Allison and Derek, already sat and waiting, Allison had even had time to grab her stuff from her room and throw them into the trunk while Derek ordered everyone’s breakfast (they were on the house and they were going to take advantage of it dammit)  
"How are you both fine?" He asked, trying to steal Allison's coffee  
"We didn't sleep" Derek replied simply  
"My question still stands" Stiles smiles thankfully at the waiter as he sets a mug down and fills it for Stiles  
"I'm sure we'll regret it later" Allison waved a hand  
"Just so long as you don't crash into me today" Stiles muttered, downing half of his mugs contents in one  
Allison folded her arms on the table and rested her chin on top of them, closing her eyes while Stiles recounts the TV show he had watched the night before, something about four old ladies living together, Allison didn't really pay much attention. By the time their breakfasts were brought out the rest of the team had dragged themselves from their beds, sleepy eyed  
"Well, we all seem cheerful" Danny quips  
"It's a long drive today" Derek says instead  
Erica grins at Stiles "How far do you think you'll make it before your precious Jeep kicks it?"  
Stiles brandishes his fork at the blonde "I have the deepest faith in my baby, she'll make it, just you watch"  
Erica hums, reaching over to steal a slice of bacon from Allison's plate, "What's the theory Allison?"  
Allison frowns at Erica and looks to Derek "How long are we driving today?"  
"At least twelve, fifteen at a push"  
Allison scratched her head "Six is being optimistic"  
Erica barks a laugh "This is going to be fun"

 

The final track on the mix tape labelled _"The best of the Smiths"_ had just finished playing and Allison was contemplating putting another tape in, but she had listened to every tape she owned so many times and they were all so depressing, did nobody bother to write happy songs?  
God what Allison would do to find some Destiny's Child, something upbeat  
“ _Oh no”_ Stiles' voice broke through the now silent car, Erica's laughter followed immediately, Allison reached over and flicked the switch  
"Stiles?"  
 _"He's....Indisposed at the moment"_ Scott spoke up  
 _"He's outside crying because his Jeep died isn't he?"_ Erica asked  
A long silence before a simple _"Yeah"  
_ Allison pressed her foot down, "I'm on my way, I’ll see what I can do"  
 _"I uh- I think it's too late Allison"_ Scott muttered  
 _"I'm right behind her"_ Danny speaks up _“I'll give you guys a ride if she can't bring it back"  
_ _"Her back Danny, don't be calling my baby an 'it'_ " Stiles' voice speaks up  
Allison chuckled, rolling down the window and enjoying the air whipping past her  
 _"Oh and we're broken down like five miles outside of a town"_ Scott speaks up  
Oh. Well shit, "You couldn't have opened with that?" Allison snapped, towns and cities were prime bandit territory, Scott and Stiles being there made them sitting ducks  
 _"I'm circling back, be with you in ten"_ Derek said, and well, if Derek was coming back Allison had good reason to push her speed, hand moving for the pistol in her seat, flicking the safety off and keeping it ready, she really wanted to bring out the colt, but she hadn't had a chance to fire it yet, didn't really know what she was getting herself into if she did (she made a mental note to set up an impromptu firing range to test her arm) it was important to feel comfortable with her weapon

She got to the pair in less than five minutes, Jeep hastily parked at the edge of the road, Scott stood nearby, eyes fixated on the road leading towards the town, pistol drawn, Stiles is fumbling around under the hood  
"Anything?"  
"She's dead" Stiles looked genuinely distraught "What should I do?"  
"Is there anything you can use?"  
"You want me to strip apart my baby?!"  
"Stiles" Scott sighs  
Allison rolls her eyes and places a hand on his shoulder "Stiles," she tries to make her voice supportive but just manages to sound exasperated "She would want you to use her like this, don't let her passing go in vain"  
"Don't patronise me" Stiles mumbled "What would you do if your car died?"  
"If I was in your situation right now I’d tell you to find anything useful that would help us"  
"Liar" Stiles smirked, and maybe he was right, Allison cherished her car more than anything, but she kept a close eye on it, it wouldn't get to the point where her car would break down beyond repair in the middle of nowhere  
Danny's car came to a stop by the side of Allison's, the boy climbing out a few moments later  
"What's the situation?" He called  
"We're stripping my baby" Stiles replied  
"Do you need my help?" Allison asked, they looked up to see Derek's car approaching them from the other direction  
"Nah, I think we're good, the big guns are coming in" Stiles smirked  
"My guns are just as good as Derek's" Allison grumbled  
"His abs are better than yours though" Danny yelled  
"Why do you have to hurt me this way Mahealani?" Allison clutches her chest as she walks backwards  
"He's just jealous that you have the second best abs in the group" Stiles grins, he nudges Danny "your abs are totally awesome, like the third best abs in the group"  
Allison rolled her eyes at the banter, walking until she reaches Scott, he gives her a lopsided smile that she can't help but match  
"How are you?" He asked and Allison realised this is their first one on one interaction since before they left the compound, she feels a little guilty if she's perfectly honest, they're practically siblings and she's been neglecting him the past few weeks, he has Stiles though, he has Isaac, he probably didn't even notice that she wasn't around much  
"I'm regretting drinking so much coffee last night" she chuckles  
Scott gives her a look "that wasn't what I meant"  
"I know" Allison nods, her eyes move to his right arm, lingers on the tattoo on his bicep, black ink easily hiding the remaining signs of the virus "it's still sinking in that he's dead"  
"I actually miss his constant insults" Scott spins his pistol in his hand "and Danny looks sad constantly and you and Derek seem even quieter than usual" Scott sighs "I don't like us all being sad" Allison hums and kicks at the dirt "Allison?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Were you and Jackson together?" Scott asked tentatively  
Allison startled at the words and couldn't stop the laugh that left her throat, "no, god no" she shakes her head, "he really wasn't my type"  
Scott stares at her for a moment but nods, turning to look out at the city a few miles away "It's kinda beautiful"  
"Yeah" Allison agrees "When you try not to think about the wolves and bandits who's only real goal in life is to steal, torture and kill any poor soul to cross their paths"  
Scott smirks "You're so optimistic"  
"Just keeping things in perspective" Allison shrugged  
“Seriously though Allison,” Scott glanced back at her “Are you okay?”  
“Yeah” Allison nodded “I'm good, how about you though? Any new... Developments?” She raised an eyebrow suggestively, Scott turned a shade of crimson and tried to turn his head to stop Allison from seeing, they both turned around when they heard another car approaching, they smiled and waved as Erica and Boyd clambered out of the car, Isaac following close behind   
“Maybe” Scott spoke up as they began to walk “It's...It' too soon to tell”  
“Well, you know we all love you, you don't have to hide it from us” Allison smiles at him, honestly, she hadn't understood why Jackson hadn't made his relationship with Danny public, or at least trusted in the team if he was so scared of what everybody else thought, over the years it was clear that they could all keep a secret should they need to, she suspected the reason he never actively came out and said it was to do with his father, but she had never asked, it was never her place to ask, as long as they were happy it didn't matter  
“Thank you” Scott pulled her into a quick one armed hug “And you too by the way, if you, you know, actually _find_ someone you like”  
“Wow Scott, your faith in me is astounding” Allison shrugged his arm off of her  
“Faith in what?” Erica asked  
“Allison ever finding someone to date”  
Erica laughed “That's about as likely as Stiles finding a date”  
“RUDE” Stiles appealed from behind his Jeep, brandishing a wrench   
“Actually, Stilinski and Argent should date, just save time” Erica muttered thoughtfully   
Allison and Stiles shared a look, giving each other a clear once over  
“Nope”   
“Definitely not”   
“Wait” Stiles frowned “ _Definitely_ not?”  
“Sorry”  
“No I get it”  
“I'm just looking for someone-”  
“Female?”  
Allison frowned “Well, I was gonna say 'not like a brother to me' but yeah, that works too I guess”  
“Ah, fair enough” Stiles nodded   
“Can I just say,” Isaac interrupted, he pointed at Allison “totally called it by the way” Allison frowned and glance at Scott who merely shrugged “But are we staying here for lunch while they tear apart the Jeep?”  
Everybody looked to Derek “I guess so” He shrugged “That old lady marked another motel down on my map, shouldn't be more than a few hours out”  
“So we eat here, pack up the parts, drive to the motel-” Boyd listed  
“And then tomorrow morning it's non stop till we get to the compound”  
“Lovely” Danny muttered  
“Come on” Scott grinned “We have left over apple pie to eat!”  
“God I love that old lady” Stiles groaned

  
  
Much to Allison's surprise (and pleasure) they actually got to the motel without another incident, Stiles and Scott had crammed into Danny's car and they had all stuck close together, not wanting to risk getting separated or lost in a part of the country they wasn't familiar with  
Allison kept mostly in silence, letting Stiles' mindless chatter fill her car, lets herself get lost in the memories of her childhood, of Melissa teaching herself, Scott, Stiles and even Derek on occasion about life before the war, made sure they could all read and write and had at least a basic understanding of math, using books she had found (stolen) from the library she taught them all about the history of the world and evolution. She remembers Derek giving her a gun for her tenth birthday and every weekend when he had time, he would take her out to practice  
She remembers meeting Jackson and Danny when she was twelve, Derek starting to teach her how to drive a car at fourteen, meeting Erica and Boyd at fifteen, her and Derek finding the rusted out hollow shell of her car at sixteen and him finding Isaac a few months later  
Remembers how a few month after her seventeenth birthday, Derek had sat her down and told her about the job Peter was offering him  
Almost five years later and here she was

  
They made it to the motel just as the sky was turning dark, it wasn't as good as the last place and Allison didn't expect it to be, she didn't voice any complaints, merely grabbed the first set of keys offered to her, dropped her bags by the door, placed her gun beside her and her knife under the pillow and slept  
For about four hours  
And the sleep was fitful at best  
Sleep was sleep though  
She spent the rest of the night by the gates listening to the howls of the wolves, Derek appeared from his room hours before the rest and joined her, the pair of them waiting patiently for the others, and when they did eventually get up, there was little words exchanged as they made their way to their cars  
Allison didn't even bother with music, she couldn't fault the silence, she totally understood why  
It was nervousness, quite simply, they were in an unknown part of the country heading towards a place they knew next to nothing about to pick up a package of such high importance the only thing that Derek knew about it was the code he had to say when they got there so they wouldn't be shot down  
For the next eight hours they drove non-stop, pausing only for a quick break including filling up the cars, eating a quick lunch and bathroom breaks before barrelling on, driving faster than they would usually aim for  
Stiles spoke once, to ask Derek if they would be allowed to stay at the compound for the night, Derek hadn't responded and they had been left to hope for the best, driving at night wasn't something they had much enthusiasm for

  
  
Allison knew they were close the minute they saw the first truck, patrols of men and women alike watching them cautiously as they drove past, Allison suspected they would open fire if she so much as looked at one of them funny   
 _"Holy shit”_ Stiles gasped  
“Fuck” Allison muttered upon seeing what was in front of them  
The wall surrounding the compound was made of thick steel, guards stood positioned all around, there were watchtowers and Allison felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up on end   
She just knew there was a sniper trained on each one of them right now  
 _“You know protocol”_ Derek's voice offering little reassurance, _“Weapons stay in their holsters, safety on. I.D cards at the ready, don't do anything to piss them off”  
_ _“You got it”_ Stiles muttered  
They all parked as close together as the could manage and as Allison was searching through the glove compartment she heard tapping at her window, she tried not to scowl at the guard, he had a gun after all as he opened the door and guided her out   
They were more or less manhandled in front of the steel gate, guns pressed to their backs, she cast a sideways glance at Stiles, could practically hear the joke on his lips, no doubt something about how welcoming these guys were  
They stood in silence as their I.D's were checked, Derek was yanked forward, a voice spoke out through an intercom  
 _“Who are you?”  
_ “Derek Hale, I’m here with my team to speak with Director Blake and collect a package for transport to the Beacon Hills compound under direct order of Peter Hale, leader of the Lykaion corporation”  
 _“Reference code?”  
_ “Alpha 1618” Derek spoke clearly  
Allison felt herself and the team hold a collective breath, a large part of her anticipating a bullet in the back of her head for their trouble  
An alarm rang out, red lights flashing at either side of the gate as the metal began to rise  
 _“You may enter”_

 

 

 


	3. This is the story of how they met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles looked around the group “Okay so raise your hands if you totally saw that coming? Nobody? No? Good, just so we're all on the same page”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title taken from "Where did the party go" by Fall out Boy

Allison kept her eyes focused on the back of Derek's car as they drove through the streets at a sickeningly slow pace, guards walked beside her, guns held tightly to their chest, she could just make out the Jeep In front of Derek, leading the team through the streets of the compound, Allison's hands clenched around the steering wheel, the comm remained off and fastened to her jeans, she knew she wasn't the only one, it was very safe to assume that they would be eavesdropped on if they did so and well, there were enough secrets amongst the group to warrant an execution for each and everyone of them  
Out of everybody they passed as they made their way to the tower wore military uniform, Allison recalls only seeing a handful of civilians and not a single child  
She wanted to blame the lack of civilians, the lack of children on it being late in the evening  
Eventually they were led into a garage, her car coming to a stop beside Derek's, Allison ignored the watchful gaze of the guard beside her as she climbed out of her car, pointedly locking it behind her, Danny pulled in opposite her, Boyd close behind and they were soon all stood together sharing uncomfortable looks   
“You're late” An older looking soldier says as he approaches them, dressed in a much flashier uniform than the others, medals adorning his chest   
“We weren't aware that there was a specific time for us to arrive” Derek replies, Allison has to fight a smirk at the formal tone he's using  
“This mission is of the highest priority”  
“And I need my team in fit shape to be able to carry it out successfully”  
“Regardless, Director Blake is unavailable as of the moment, but she left clear orders to put you and your team up for the night should you arrive when she is unavailable”  
“We'll be sure to send her our thanks” Erica muttered under her breath, Isaac snickered quietly beside her  
“Thank you...” Derek begins  
“General Clark” he introduces himself “If you'll instruct your men to collect their belongings, we'll escort you all to your rooms”   
Derek glanced at his group and nodded, Allison didn't miss the way Clark turned his nose up at Derek at this as she walked around to the trunk of her car  
“Who's he calling 'men' I’ve got some very fine assets that would say otherwise thank you” She hears Erica mumble as they grab their bags, Allison toys with the idea of bringing her bag of weapons but falters, it could lead to unnecessary attention being drawn to her, more questions being asked, but she didn't want to leave them alone, didn't want to risk a nosy guard coming to snoop around  
If someone broke into her car she'd break their neck  
Allison cleared her throat, thankful that Derek hears and glances over to her, all it takes is a vague wave and he's nodding in understanding, turning back to the General  
“What about our cars?”  
Clark gave a not so subtle look at the cars, barely concealed disdain evident in his expression   
“I can assure you that as soon as we leave this room, all doors will be sealed and nobody will access it again until you return”  
Allison slams the trunk shut and slides her duffel full of clothes over her shoulder, she'll believe that when she sees it, but it's the best she can hope for right now  
“Are you all ready?” Clark asks “If you'll follow me please”  
  


  
The halls of the Echidna building was almost identical to that of Lykaion, albeit teeming with more guards, with bigger guns and less than friendly faces  
“Serious talk for a minute” Stiles spoke up “Why is the building back at the Beacon Hills compound called 'Lykaion' when that's the name of the corporation when this has a different name?”  
“Because it's the headquarters Stiles” Derek replies, his eyes focused on where they're being led  
“Why do they all insist on staring at us?” Danny asked  
“Because they're jealous of how hot we are” Erica replied, they're all led into an elevator and Allison finds herself pushed right into the corner, face pressed awkwardly against Danny's shoulder

They remain in silence as they're carried up the next seven floors and all but topple out when the doors open  
“This way please” A young soldier gestures with his gun  
“Okay, but is anybody else getting the feeling that we've been arrested? Cause I’m definitely feeling like we've been arrested” Erica frowns as they're led down another endless hallway  
“At least they're being polite about it?” Stiles smiles hopefully   
“It's just part of the job” Derek spoke up “At least we have a place to sleep tonight okay?”  
Allison hums her agreement and looks past the group, catching sight of another guard walking towards them, a figure beside him, as they get closer Allison realises the figure is a girl  
Okay, a really attractive girl  
Like, really attractive  
She walks through the hall like she owns the place, like people should fear her more than the man with the assault rifle beside her, her gaze shifts and meets Allison's, stunning green eyes, flowing red hair and a smirk that leaves Allison feeling utterly defenceless  
As quickly as it had happened, the girl broke the contact and walked past and Allison couldn't help but stop, couldn't help but turn to watch the girl walk away, the way her hips sway with every movement, her skirt showing off perfect legs, Erica barrels into Allison sending them both stumbling a few paces, the girl looks over her shoulder and catches Allison blatantly checking her out  
And then she smiles  
“What the fuck are you looking at Arg-” Erica cuts herself off when she sees Derek's glare, instead following Allison's gaze and laughing “Holy shit, Allison's doing some sightseeing already”   
“If you could all focus please” The guard sighs   
“Like what you saw there Allison?” Stiles slides up to her “She was attractive”  
“We're here for a job” Allison focuses ahead “Not my love life”  
“When was the last time you got laid? Seriously” Isaac asks  
“Isaac I have a gun” Allison glances at the boy  
“You two” The guard stops Allison in her tracks by throwing his gun out in front of her, her hand automatically moves for her own, only being stilled by Derek, the guard gestures to Allison and Erica as he swipes a key card through a panel, a door opening up next to it “This is your room, we'll send you both some dinner up”  
“Great! I love room service” Erica throws her bag into the room and heads inside “Come on Allison, lets braid each others hair and tell stories” the blonde called  
“Derek” Allison gave the man a pleading look  
“It's only for one night”   
“If I end up shooting her, it's your fault” She muttered as she walked inside the room  
  


  
“They actually locked us in” Erica pushes at the door “They actually locked us in the room” There's a long pause “Those bastards!”  
Allison didn't open her eyes or move from her bed, Erica had been right, they had effectively been arrested, the room had two beds and a bathroom, so it wasn't all bad, but it certainly lacked that welcoming feel “What did you expect?” Allison replied “This is the headquarters of this compound, they have labs and shit here”  
“So? We work for Peter”  
“They're not just going to let us run around the top secret building in which we have no clearance to without a shit load of armed guards to watch us”   
Erica groaned “You're no fun you know that right?”  
“I don't get paid to be fun”  
Erica is silent for a long while and Allison hopes that the blonde fell asleep, she opens her eyes to check only to see Erica's face hovering above her  
“What the fuck?!” Allison rolls off of her bed   
“When _was_ the last time you got laid?”  
Allison groaned and walked around the room, she hadn't actually _found_ any microphones or cameras, but this was basically a prison cell, they had to make all of the assumptions until proven wrong   
“Your lack of a sex life is making you cranky” Erica says simply  
“Fuck you Reyes”  
“I rest my case!”   
Allison groaned and moved back to her bed, dropping onto it   
“Fine, fine” Erica rolled her eyes “No more sex life talk”  
“No more talk at all please”  
“One more question”  
“Fine”  
“What do you think the package is?” Erica asked, Allison looked up to her and for the first (and quite possibly last time) the blonde looked serious  
“Something to do with the Omega virus no doubt”  
“You think?”  
Allison shrugged “It's hard to think about it being anything else”  
Erica hummed and flicked off the light “That's what I thought” And just like that, she was asleep   
Allison had to gape, on her best nights it took at least an hour to drift off and here's Erica, gone In a blink  
  


  
“Well that was an interesting night, did anybody else get locked in their rooms until they fed us breakfast?” Stiles approached where Allison and Erica were sat in what Allison could only assume was a conference room   
“Yep, and Allison here decided to get up at the crack of dawn to do a work out routine” Erica glared at Allison  
“Yeah well, you snore”  
“Ladies, please” Danny slid into the seat opposite Allison “Cold?” He asked, pulling on Allison's jacket, Allison hummed and nodded a greeting to Derek, outside, half a dozen guards ran past   
A moment later, General Clark appeared in the doorway “Hale?”  
“Yes?”  
“Director Blake sends her apologies, but there is something that requires her attention”  
“I understand” Derek nodded  
Clark looks over to Allison and the rest of the team “However, I would like your opinion on some matters, if you would care to accompany me?”  
“And what about my team?”  
“They're free to explore the compound to their content, they'll be escorted back when the Director is free”  
“Is that okay?” Derek asks them  
“Totally” Erica grinned  
Derek nods and gets up from his seat, glaring at each one of them in turn “Behave, don't do anything stupid, don't draw attention to yourselves”  
“Yes mom” Isaac muttered  
  


  
“What is there to do here?” Stiles asked as they walked the streets, eventually reaching the main square, now currently filled with people going about their own lives  
“Well I’m pretty sure _that's_ a bar” Erica gestured vaguely to a run down building  
“Erica it's nine in the morning”  
The blonde shrugged “It's gotta be midnight somewhere, who's with me?”   
The rest of the group shared a look, Allison looked around and was met with the inquisitive gaze of almost every civilian she locked eyes with   
“Come on Allison” Erica urged, it was weird hearing the blonde use her first name “Look, we'll have one drink. _One_ , get the gossip of the town, explore a bit..” She grins suddenly “Maybe find you that hot redhead”  
Allison rolls her eyes “One drink, but no seeking out the hot redhead”  
Erica and Isaac laugh triumphantly “You totally just admitted she's hot!”  
“For fucks sake” Allison sighed  
Danny wrapped an arm around her shoulder “I think we're gonna need that drink to get through the day”  
Allison hummed as they followed after Erica, Stiles fell into step beside her  
“Okay, so I have a question-”  
“You always have a question” Danny smirked  
“I'm a curious person!”   
“So I’ve noticed”  
“Stiles” Allison twisted her head to face him “What's the question?”  
“Do they really trust us?” Stiles' hand moved down to the gun at his hip “Or do they just know it'd be suicide to try anything?”  
“Definitely the latter” Danny replied, Allison nodded in agreement “I mean their guns look like something from one of those comic books we found”  
“Also the fact that we're pretty much constantly surrounded” Allison adds “We've basically got no chance if we pull out our guns and they know that so they just leave us be”  
Stiles frowned “I thought as much” he says as they step into the bar, and it's almost comical, the way everything falls silent as the door closes behind the, the place is teeming with soldiers, all watching them, some even go for their guns  
It takes all of Allison's self restraint to not mimic them. In front of her, Erica throws up her hands and walks over to the bar, meeting the bartenders gaze “All we want is a drink, Jesus, is that okay?”  
“So long as you don't cause trouble” The bartender replied, setting the glass he was cleaning down, Erica waves them all over as she reels off a list of orders and sound returns to the bar, Allison is dragged onto the barstool beside Erica as a glass of amber liquid is set down in front of her  
“Drink up” Erica slapped her back   
“Dude” Danny leant over “They have comm devices. In their _ears_ ” he hissed. Allison sipped at her drink, grimacing at the initial taste as she scanned the room, she saw a silver earpiece attached to the ears of many of the soldiers  
“That's not fucking fair” Stiles muttered  
“If I could get my hands on a few of them I could mod them” Danny replied  
“Well we could do with an upgrade” Isaac drawls from the other side of Erica, holding his glass in the air and staring through the liquid   
“Derek said we had to behave” Scott spoke up, pushing his drink along the counter towards Erica   
“Don't be so dull McCall, it's not like we're gonna kill anyone”   
“No, you're just contemplating stealing from the _military_ ”   
“You make it sound so bad” Erica rolled her eyes “Fine” She finishes her drink and reaches for the one Scott slid over “We'll go find the hot redhead”  
“We are not finding her” Allison pushed her hands into her hair, she was going to shoot somebody before the day was done, she just knew it  
“Why not?” Erica frowned, she nudged Allison with her elbow “It could be a fairytale romance”  
Allison glared at the blonde “Erica, this isn't a fucking fairytale, we're living in a barren wasteland excuse of a world, there are wolves that carry a deadly virus, there isn't room for a fucking fairytale 'eyes meet across the room' romance okay? We have a fucking job to do” she snapped  
Erica looked thoughtfully at her for a moment, drinking steadily “You know I’m sensing a little hostility here” She looks past Allison and smirks “Lets play darts”  
Allison blinks “Darts?”  
Erica nods   
“You want to give me small projectile objects to throw when you know you're pissing me off?”  
Erica grins and slides from her stool “It'll be fun, come on, loser pays for the next round”  
“I'm not even drinking any more, it's not even lunch time” Allison sighed, though she got up from her seat and followed the blonde through the bar and accepted the set of darts handed to her

  
As they played a few turns, Allison felt the number of eyes on them both increase, she focused on the game though, trying not to think too much about how Erica somehow managed to throw one of her darts, only to have it bounce back and almost hit Allison between the eyes  
As the game progressed, Allison caught whispers of conversations from the soldiers, most of it amounted to nothing useful, but there was one conversation happening at the table in the corner that caught Allison's attention  
“Did they break him yet?”  
“Of course not, can't break a Vox that fast”   
“I can't believe they picked two of them up that close to the compound, it's like they were asking to be captured”  
“I just think it's a mighty fine convenience they turn up a few hours after the strangers” The way the table collectively fall silent almost throws Allison off enough for her to miss her shot  
Almost  
“Ugh, no fucking fair” Erica groans, Allison grins at her but can read the look behind her eyes and shares a small nod  
“That's what happens when you challenge a marksmen” Allison winks and begins to pull Erica towards the bar “I think you owe me a drink” She says loud enough for the soldiers to hear   
“They caught some Vox last night?” Erica says quietly  
“Seems like it”  
“Guess that's why they're being untrustworthy of us”  
Allison hummed as Erica held up two fingers and muttered something to the bartender  
“What's up?” Scott asked   
Allison went to reply when a hand tapped her shoulder, she turned to the soldier and raised an eyebrow, even behind his black and gold aviators she could see him not so subtly check her out  
“Nice arm” He says, gesturing to the dartboard   
“Thanks” Allison replied, she turned away from him and accepted the shot glass Erica handed to her, she didn't get why this guy was wearing shades in a dark, dive of a bar, it didn't make him look cool, it made him look like a douchebag   
“You know, we have a shooting range out back if you wanna go a few rounds”  
Erica slides up then “A shooting range?”  
He nodded “How about it?”  
“What do you say Reyes?”  
“I'm down” Erica nodded  
“All right, we're in” Allison downed her shot and set the class on the counter “I've been looking for a chance to test out my new piece”  
“That's the spirit” Erica beamed, slapping Allison on the back, she looked to the rest of the group “You guys coming?”  
“Sure, why not” Isaac shrugged, Boyd and Scott murmured their agreements and climb from their seats  
“Stiles? Danny?” Allison looked to the boys in turn, Danny waved a hand “Pass” “You're missing out Mahealani” Erica sang as she pulled Allison away The shooting range was nothing special, it's not like Allison was expecting a top of the range place to shoot behind a dive of a bar that soldiers clearly used as a place to get themselves wasted after a shift, but she was expecting more than what was in front of her Bullet ridden mannequins lay at the end of the range, each one wearing the tell-tale red bandanna of the rebels (Allison had a strong suspicion that those bandanna's came from the corpses of the rebels) behind the mannequins, the words “Down with the Animus Vox” sprayed behind them in giant black letters It wasn't a surprise, the military and the vox were at war after all, ever since the leader, known only as “Leto” had risen four years after the virus emerged, telling stories of Lykaion hiding secrets from the people of the country, that Peter was a filthy tyrant Needless to say, the Animus Vox were named nothing more than terrorist scum and have been hunted after ever since, Leto and her followers living within the shadows “What does Animus Vox even mean?” Erica asked, pulling her pistol from it's holster  
“To hell if I know” Allison replied, pulling out her colt, Isaac, Scott and Boyd lingering back to watch the pair  
Erica emptied a magazine at the mannequins, looking incredibly pleased with herself when she was done. She turned to Allison and gave her a once over  
“Have you even fired that thing yet?” Erica asked  
Allison pulled back the hammer and gripped the revolver tightly, aiming for the centre mannequin she assumed was supposed to represent Leto “Nope”  
“Well, don't fuck up” Erica muttered, glancing over her shoulder “We have an audience”  
Allison looked back to see the soldier with the shades, accompanied by three more men  
“I'll try to keep that in mind” Allison aimed down the sights and took a deep breath, anticipation pooling in her gut as her finger tightens around the trigger  
The recoil is a shock to the system and the bullet ploughs into the dirt at the mannequins feet, despite everything she feels her cheeks heat up at hearing laughter behind her  
“Way to go” Erica rolled her eyes  
“I thought you were supposed to be some kind of skilled marksman” Shades laughed, Allison turns to glare at him, can make out the name 'Greenberg' on his jacket  
“Well, Greenberg, that was just a warm up shot” Allison snapped, she flashed Erica a look and pulled back the hammer once more  
She fired off the next five shots in quick succession, each bullet finding it's place in the centre mannequin, one in each eye, the forehead, the heart and finally, just to make Greenberg wince, the crotch. She turned to face him, held eye contact through his shades as she pulled back the release, the barrel opening up and the spent cartridges fell to her feet with a clatter  
“How was that?” Allison asked with a smirk, flicking her wrist and setting the barrel back in place and holstering the weapon in a fluid motion  
“Impressive” Greenberg says as he walks closer, adjusting the strap around his chest and gripping his rifle to his chest “Even if the gun you're using is for child’s play, I thought you worked directly for Peter Hale? Does he not like you enough to upgrade your equipment?” the men behind Greenberg laughed and Allison felt herself tense up “Or are you just the special little group that nobody knows what to do with so they just throw you a bone every now and again?” Allison sees Erica bristle from the corner of her eye. Greenberg catches Allison staring at the assault rifle in his arms “They're new, fully automatic with titanium aluminium alloy outer casting with carbon fibre jacket, adjustable scope, spring loaded extendible stock with electronic pulse action” Greenberg holds the weapon proudly and smirks at Allison “Donation from Peter Hale himself, like it?”  
“Oh really?” Allison studies the weapon for a moment before clenching her fist, before the man could react her fist connected with his jaw, his head snapping to the side with the momentum before he crumples to the ground, Allison lets out a low hiss and shakes her hand “This is my fist” She says to the unconscious figure “I was born with it” She crouches down to pull the shades from his face “Also, I’m keeping these” She places them in her back pocket,   
“Cannonball!” she hears Erica yell as she moves to stand up and sees a flash of blonde and suddenly Erica is tackling one of the men, Allison hadn't even realised how close to her he had been, a second guard, much larger than herself was approaching her, anger in his eyes, Isaac comes barrelling past, his own fist connecting with the mans jaw  
The rest kind of went in a blur after that, Allison remembers the third guard punching Erica, she remembers flying at him and kneeing him in the stomach and being tackled back into the bar, Boyd and Scott trying to diffuse the situation as herself, Erica and Isaac start throwing punches left right and centre, glasses smashing around her as she tackles another man to the ground  
She vaguely hears a gun being cocked

  
“This is all your fault” Erica pulled at the handcuffs keeping her to the table  
Allison studies her own handcuffs “You didn't _have_ to launch yourself at that guy screaming cannonball Reyes”  
“Oh I know, but lets be honest, it was a awesome shot”  
“Oh totally” Isaac agreed from the other side of the blonde   
The door opened and Derek stepped in, a scowl fixed firmly on his face, he spent a few moments inspecting each one of them, aside from a bloody nose on Isaac's part and a few grazed knuckles, they came out of it surprisingly well  
“One job.” Derek sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose “You had _one_ job” he stepped closer and placed his hands on the table “Blend in and don't cause trouble, so what do you do? You start a fight. With the _military_ ”   
Allison smiles sheepishly “In our defence... He was a dick”  
“Had it not been for your job you would have been shot on sight for less than what you three pulled!”   
“It was Arg-” Derek slammed his fist down on the table, cutting the blonde off and fixing her with a glare. Allison flashed him a thankful look   
“You don't pull shit like that” Derek growled   
“What's going to happen to us?” Allison asked  
Derek sighed and visibly relaxed “Nothing. Thankfully, the guy that you got into the fight with- Greenberg? Not his first time, he's got a lengthy record”  
“Thank god” Isaac mumbles   
“Any news about the package?”  
Derek shook his head  
“Then what the fuck have you been doing all day?”  
Derek's lips form a tight line “A guards going to come let you out soon”  
“Wait, where are you going?”  
“To find the rest of our team, we've been asked to meet Director Blake down in the prisons before our meeting takes place”  
Allison nodded slowly and shared a look with Erica “Okay, how long will we be here?”  
“Long enough for you to think about what you did” Derek replies simply and leaving the room without another word  
“God he can be such a mom sometimes” Erica rolls her eyes, she looks pointedly at Allison “This is still your fault”  
“He was an asshole” Allison shrugged  
“We totally could have been shot”  
“Yeah... Little misjudgement on my part there” Allison hummed   
The three of them fall into a long silence  
“This is my fist, I was born with it” Isaac quotes “Man, that was fucking awesome” he chuckles  
  
  


“Nice shades” Danny smirked, pointing at the aviators resting in the v of Allison's shirt  
Allison grinned and came to a stop near him “Where did you disappear off to earlier?”  
“You mean while you, Erica and Isaac were busy getting arrested?” Danny smirks “We.. May have taken advantage of the distraction you created” He adds  
“I said you was gonna miss out Mahealani” Erica chimes, stretching her arms out lazily, glancing around the reception “Do you think the prisons are in this place?”  
“Nah” Stiles speaks up from where he's sat “The prison block is out back, it would just be in bad taste to lock the rebels up In the same building where scientific research into the virus takes place, I mean, that would just be disastrous”  
“They locked us up in an empty room for like two hours” Isaac frowned  
“You three aren't a group of rebels who's only motivation in life is to destroy our already broken country” Stiles pointed out  
Allison scratched the back of her neck “I'm not entirely sure that's what they're all about”  
“But it's treason to be a sympathiser to the Vox” Danny loops his arm through Allison's “So this isn't the best place to have this kind of discussion” he adds quietly.  
Allison and Stiles share a look and nod, the problem with the Vox is, nobody seems to be one hundred percent sure of their motives, from what Allison has picked up over the years they seem to want what everybody else wants, answers, where had the virus come from? Why wasn't there a cure yet?  
But they rely on word of mouth to get their messages across and the original content is often lost in the journey from person to person  
The team agreed early on that they had a strict 'Only shoot if shot at' policy. They led a dangerous life as it was, there was no need to go all trigger happy on every person they saw wearing a red bandanna, the world was too fucked up to add more corpses to the earth and Allison can recall a handful of times where they've been bailed out by members of the Animus Vox (the fact that most of them then tried to kill them after realising they worked for Peter Hale had a tendency to ruin the moment of solidarity) but Allison also knows of times where they've been the ones to help the rebels, be it in fighting off wolves, bandits or just fixing their cars  
Small kindnesses that would lead to their executions if it was found out  
But Derek had summed it all up pretty easily one night,   
They were all misfits, too undisciplined and reckless for the military, too violent to be a civilian, not smart enough to be a scientist or an engineer or whatever menial work they were expected to do if they remained in the compound, but still too tied down to their roots in Beacon Hills to become a rebel, they fell between the cracks of the fucked up politics that governed the land, using their connection to Lykaion, to Peter to their advantage   
Honestly, they all hated that man, boss or not, they didn't trust him as far as they could throw him  
Not after everything that had happened   
Two guards approached the five of them, pausing to give Allison, Erica and Isaac a quick once over- word had gotten around then  
“Hale team?”  
“That's us” Stiles nodded   
“This way please”  
  
  
They walked out of the building, past yet more guards, walking down a secluded trail, Allison shoved her hands in her pockets and followed blindly  
“Think these guys ever get bored of leading us around everywhere?” Erica asked with a smirk  
“Just think Reyes” Stiles kicked at a stone “These guys probably make more money than we do”  
“Yet I haven't seen a single smile, so tell me, who is the happier person?”  
“Don't get all deep on us” Isaac frowned   
Danny nudged Allison with his elbow “I hear we're going to go see some Vox”  
“Really?” Allison asked, Danny hummed in response “Shit”   
“How are you feeling?”   
“Well, I cut my knuckle on that guys tooth," Allison frowns, inspecting her fist briefly "but other than that I feel pretty good, you?”  
Danny nodded once “It feels better today” Allison offered a small smile and squeezed his hand. They walked for about five minutes until they reached another building, old and decrepit, it looked more like a box than a building with a single set of doors, no windows as far as Allison could see and yep, definitely a prison. Outside the doors, Derek stood waiting with Boyd and Scott, the latter grinned upon seeing them all   
“Why are we here Hale?” Erica asked as one of the guards who has escorted them began to type commands into the keypad  
“Director Blake wants us to see the Vox” Derek replied  
“Why?” Danny frowned  
Derek shrugged as the doors opened “They picked the two of them up a couple miles away last night, they think they might have been tracking us”  
The pained howls of a man could be heard the moment they stepped into the building, the air thick with the smell of death  
“Derek Hale” A voice practically purrs, the entire group turns to see a woman, a few years older than Derek approaching, her smirk bright and her heels resonating against the concrete, she holds a hand out to Derek “Director Blake” she introduces, “But you can call me Jennifer” she adds  
“Director Blake” Derek greets, shaking her hand briefly   
Jennifer falters, only for a moment, but Allison doesn't miss the movement, beside her, Isaac nudges her  
“She's kind of hot” he says quietly  
“You could sleep with her” Erica adds  
“I will shoot you both” Allison growls  
“And this must be your team” Jennifer scans the group briefly, her eyes lingering on Allison for longer than she felt comfortable with “I've heard so much about them already” Jennifer raises an eyebrow  
“They're sorry for what they did this morning” Derek says, giving Allison, Erica and Isaac a sideways glance “They were out of order”   
Allison nods “We extend our deepest apologies” She says in the most formal voice she can muster, Erica and Isaac hum their agreements (she knows Erica is trying not to laugh, she just knows)  
Jennifer nods and smiles again, and there's something about it, how It lies somewhere between sly and knowing and seems fixed on Allison- though she thinks she might just be being paranoid “We'll get down to the business of why you're here soon, but first there's the matter of finishing with our friend here”  
Allison could tell from the way that Derek's lips pursed that he didn't like the implication of the woman’s words, but no more words were exchanged, instead they followed Jennifer, Allison kept her eyes fixed forward, not quite willing to look inside the cells on either side of her, If the occasional pained moan was anything to go by, the sights wouldn't have been pretty  
“Anything?” Jennifer asked the guard standing at the door  
“Nothing ma'am, keeps insisting he knows nothing” he replies as he opens the door, holding it open for her  
Jennifer sighs and walks in, waving for them to all follow, Allison finds herself in a room, completely dark save for a light on the other side of the glass, on the other side of the glass sits a boy, no older than eighteen or nineteen, sat in the middle of the room, sobbing openly and covered in blood, she recognises the man by him, General Clark  
“They can't see us, can't hear us unless I press that button there” Jennifer gestures to a small button to the right of her “But we can see and hear everything”  
“With all due respect ma'am” Derek speaks up “But why are we here? We're under direct orders from Peter Hale to collect the package and bring it back to him”  
“And we'll discuss that after this” Jennifer replies “You should know from your uncle that there has been an increase in activity, it would be beneficial to know their movements. We're only thinking of the safety of your team and the package after all”  
Allison raises an eyebrow, thankful the woman can't see her, she sounds so full of herself, Allison can totally see why Peter made her in control of this compound, of the Echidna building  
“I appreciate your worry for our well being” Derek replies, the slight hint of sarcasm evident to his tone  
“Please” the boy wept and Allison stepped forward slightly, past Danny to stop closer to Derek so she could see clearer “I don't know _anything”  
_ “I think you both know that you're lying” Clark replied “What is Leto's real name? Who is she?”  
“I don't know! I've only met her once!”  
“Why were you and the other Vox spawn near our compound?”  
“I don't know!” The boy screamed   
It went on a lot like this for what felt like an eternity, eventually Clark broke out the knuckle dusters, thick metal things that slid onto his knuckles like they always belonged there  
Allison forced herself to keep watching, even when she knew Scott had long since looked away, where Stiles was no doubt fighting to avoid passing out  
The boy was unrecognisable when he finally spoke  
“I left something behind... We... We needed to get it back, we needed to get it back”  
“Get what back?” Clark asked calmly, sliding off the metal from around his knuckles and cleaning the gore from each one, every laboured breath the boy took was punctuated by the sound of his blood hitting the concrete   
“I... I _can't._ They would be so mad if you had it, you can't have it”  
“Have what?”  
“Just shoot me... Please” the boy mumbled “Everything hurts, just end it, please”  
Clark looked up at the mirror, a questioning expression on his face, Jennifer reached over and pressed the button   
“Put him down” she said calmly  
In one swift movement, Clark pulled his pistol from the holster and positioned it at the back of the boys head and fired, fragments of skull scattering across the room as though it was nothing, blood splattered the mirror and what remained of his head dropped forward onto the table with a resounding thud, body twitching   
Allison didn't know what left her more unsettled her more  
The fact that the people who were essentially her captives had shot somebody so brutally in front of an audience  
Or the fact that she didn't so much as blink  
“Well then” Jennifer's pleasant voice cut through “Shall we get down to business? The sooner we talk, the sooner you can be on your way”Derek nodded and the guard who was positioned next the door opened it, allowing them to leave, Allison was the last to move, as she did so she felt a pressure on her wrist, turning slightly to meet Jennifer's unsettling gaze once more  
“You know, you remind me of a woman I knew a long time ago” She says and there's that smile again, as quick as it happened, Jennifer was gone, moving through the door with a sway of her hips. Allison swallowed thickly and followed after her

  
Once they're all stood in Jennifer's office she hands Derek a device, it looks a lot like their comms device, only so much more up to date, hi tech, she can tell from Derek's frown that he has no idea what to do with it  
“Peter requested I give you one, he expects updates regarding your progress”  
Derek nods, still focused on the item in his hand “I assume we can't go back the way we came?”  
“You assumed correct” Jennifer leans forward, looking amused “We picked up Vox on the trail that  _you_ took”  
“You think we had something to do with this?” Erica asked  
“I never said that” Jennifer replied calmly, meeting Erica's fiery gaze “I am however saying that maybe they followed you, that maybe they know you're going to be carrying something of great importance and therefore it is necessary you take proper precaution and map out a new route”  
Erica looked ready to protest, hell, Allison wanted to protest, or shoot her, either worked. She didn't like the way Jennifer looked at her, like she knew something about Allison  
“So we'll create a new route” Derek nods, more to himself than the rest of them, but they all chorus their agreements nonetheless   
“Do you have any questions?” the woman asked  
“What is the package?” Isaac asked  
“The 1618?” Jennifer smiled “The answer to all of our problems”   
“Is there anything we have to know?” Derek asked “Am I putting my team in danger?”  
“There is always an element of danger to these jobs Hale” Jennifer replies easily, her eyes scan the group briefly “Which one of you will have the 1618 in your car?”  
“That'd be me”Allison folds her arms across her chest  
“Well then-”  
“Allison” Allison cut in  
“Allison” Jennifer repeated and it sounded wrong coming from her mouth “Well then  _Allison_ , I'm going to give you a warning about the 1618, don't get curious and don't let your guard down. One false move and it could mean your death”   
Allison blinked at the woman, well shit, that wasn't very encouraging  
“I'll try to keep that in mind” Allison replied, making every effort to keep her voice emotionless, it only seemed to amuse Jennifer even more, Allison flashed Derek a look, if she didn't leave this room soon she was going to end up putting a bullet in her brain. Derek nodded, message received   
“Is that everything?” Derek asked, somehow managing to make his question sound mildly threatening  
“That's everything. I'll have you all escorted back to your cars and I'll have some men deliver the package to you” Jennifer stands up and extends her hand to the man “Good luck to you and your team Hale, oh and I’ll keep an eye on them if I were you,” Derek leant over the short distance and shook her hand “they seem to be pretty reckless, like a spark waiting to ignite” Allison felt her breath catch in her throat, she saw Derek tense up and the rest of the group seemed to freeze at the woman’s words  
“Thank you Director Blake, maybe we'll meet again one day”  
“Perhaps” Jennifer smiled that wicked smirk once more and Allison turned on her heel  
If she ever saw that smile again, it'd be too soon

  
  
Allison leant against the trunk of her car, box of shells balanced as she inserted six fresh rounds into her colt, giving the barrel a spin before flicking it into place. She threw the box bag into her bag and slammed the trunk shut  
“You okay there?” Erica called from Boyd's car  
“The quicker I get out of here, the better” Allison muttered, sliding her colt into it's holster and pushing her shades up the bridge of her nose, she shoved her hands in her jacket. Scott and Boyd were to the side of them, talking, Derek was leaning against his Camero, checking every angle for guards approaching. Allison moved past Erica, feeling the blonde pat her on the shoulder as she goes  
“You good?” She asks the man  
Derek purses his lips “I'm worried”  
“About the package”  
“The 1618” Derek corrected   
“Yeah” Allison ran a hand through her hair “I'm not gonna call it that” honestly, it was a stupid ass name  
“What do you think it is?”  
“Maybe a vial?” Erica suggested, coming up behind them   
“How could a vial maybe result in my death Reyes?” Allison asked with a frown  
“I don't fucking know, it could be like in those shitty zombie movies Stiles found in that video store”  
“What? Like it contains a scary super strain of the Omega virus?” Stiles smirked as he climbed from his car, Danny following close behind  
“How the fuck is that supposed to help the country?” Allison sighed  
Stiles shrugged “I was just building on Erica's suggestion”  
“I think it's also safe to say it's not a file now” Danny joined in, “Unless she meant death by paper cuts”  
“Dude, what if it's a wolf?” Erica asked with wide eyes  
“What?” The entire group exclaimed, Scott, Boyd and Isaac now as invested as the rest of them  
“You really think they'd give us a wolf and tell us to drive it across the country?” Isaac asked  
“Well, they don't really seem to give a shit about us do they?” Erica replied  
Their bickering was interrupted by a shrill ringing sound, all eyes fell on Derek as he fumbled with the silver object at his hip, a blue light flashing from it. He looked pleadingly to Danny. Danny managed to smirk in the confusion as he clicked a button, Derek held the object up to his ear  
“Hello?” He asked hesitantly, a moment passed and he tensed up “Hello Sir” he flashed the rest of them a look and moved away  
“Peter?” Scott frowned  
“Who else” Isaac rolled his eyes  
Allison nudged Danny “So what have you and Stiles been up to?” She asked, she needed a distraction from what was going on around her, and they had been up to something, she wasn't blind  
Danny smirked and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small silver earpiece, Allison picked it up and studied it carefully, recognising it as the standard pieces worn by the guards here  
“Where did you get this?” Allison laughed   
“We may have taken advantage of the accidental distraction you, Erica and Isaac caused earlier and stolen a bunch to play with”  
“How many?” Allison asked, handing it back   
Danny grinned “Eight”  
“I love you”   
“Oh yeah, I'm that good”  
Allison laughed and nudged him with her shoulder “Do they work?”  
“We're working on it”   
“Allison” Derek called, Allison pulled off her shades and looked at the man, he held out the device  
Frowning, she took it from him  
“Hello?”  
 _“Allison!”_ Peter's voice practically sang, she felt herself grow cold  
“Sir” Allison greeted   
_“I just wanted to remind you how important that you ensure the safe transport of 1618”  
_ Allison rolled her eyes and held Derek's eye “I told you Sir, you have my word”  
 _“Because I would hate for you to disappoint me”  
_ “I won't disappoint you sir”   
_“Because lets not forget how much I’ve done for you Allison, how much I helped you when I could have left you”  
_ Allison clenches her fist and bites down on her tongue, it takes her a moment to form a response that doesn't involve a few choice words “I haven't forgotten Sir” How could she when he insisted on bringing it up every fucking week “And I’m thankful for what you did” The words taste like acid in her mouth, Derek's eyes widen in realisation and he's moving towards her   
_“Yes well, good luck Allison. Tell your team I said hi”  
_ The line went dead, Allison let out a low growl and went to throw the device, only to have Derek's hand close around her wrist, the other taking the comm from her  
“Don't let him get to you”   
“Oh yeah, he's just reminding me who I belong to” Allison grits out, yanking her wrist free, Derek sighs and Allison falters “He did it to you too, didn't he?”  
“He's nothing if not predictable”  
Allison kicks at a stone and walks back to her car, climbing onto the hood and leaning back against the warm metal  
“Peter says hi by the way” Allison says when the silence stretches on for too long  
“Ugh, asshole” Eric mumbles, earning a laugh from Allison  
“Oh!” Stiles exclaims “Allison! It's the hot redhead”  
Allison is ashamed to admit she shot up so fast she almost fell from the car, thankful that Danny was the only witness to the matter, his smirked at her as she sought out the girl  
Surely enough, in the distance, the girl from the evening prior was walking down the street, a guard on either side of her, Allison felt butterflies flutter in her stomach and had to roll her eyes at how ridiculous she was being. Erica elbowed her sharply in the ribs   
“Go talk her you idiot”  
“Erica we have to go when the 1618 gets here” Scott smiled apologetically at Allison  
“So? She can have a quickie behind the bar”  
“Stay classy Erica” Danny replied quietly, they all watched the redhead moving down the street  
Allison glanced at the buildings she was passing, wondering which one she would turn into, which street she would move down   
She kept getting closer and it was then she recognised one of the guards by her side- if not for the giant black eye he was now sporting. Allison smirked and tugged on her shades slightly  
The girl got closer still and Allison felt nerves beginning to build in her stomach  
“Guys..” Scott frowned, shifting forward, unconsciously dragging Isaac forward with him  
Allison could see a bag in the girls hand, she wiped the palms of her hands on her jeans  
“Think she's carrying the package?” Erica taking note of the bag and the girl is so close now, Allison slides off of the hood of her car and takes in the way she moves, how every action seems to ooze confidence  
Too much confidence  
It's the kind of behaviour you would exhibit to make to conceal your true feelings.  
“No...” Stiles shook his head  
The girl was scared, and hiding it pretty damn well  
“No, I think she _is_ the 1618” Danny finished  
The girl came to a stop, her guards precariously close to her, Greenberg glares at Allison  
Stiles looked around the group “Okay so raise your hands if you totally saw _that_ coming? Nobody? No? Good, just so we're all on the same page”  
Allison couldn't take her eyes off of the green eyed girl in front of her  
Allison could hardly breathe

 


	4. Kiss me now you'll catch your death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I'm fucked” Allison sighed to her reflection  
> Derek was definitely going to kill her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My science knowledge is lame so... SCIENCE (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧  
> (seriously, excuse my science, it's bad)
> 
> Chapter title from "My Skin" by Natalie Merchant

"What the _fuck_ Derek" Allison hissed "That's a fucking girl" she gestured wildly at the redhead  
"It's a girl you want to fuck" Isaac mumbled  
Allison span to face the boy, pointing a threatening finger at him "No. Now is not the fucking time" she snapped, she glanced over where the girl was standing, her eyes met the redheads briefly and Allison snapped her attention back to Derek  
His expression maintained a frown, Allison could see the thoughts running through his mind  
“I don't like it either Allison, but our hands are tied. You know that”  
Allison made a sound of frustration and pushed a hand through her hair “This.” Allison gestured around them “Is bullshit.”  
"I agree with Allison" Danny stepped forward  
"We didn't sign up for a girl!" Allison exclaimed, a hot girl, but still a girl. Honestly, she would have preferred to take her chances with a wolf  
"We signed up for a package, an object. Not a human" Boyd agreed, casting a look over to the girl  
"You would've thought someone would have the decency to mention it" Erica folded her arms across her chest "but no, they have to be all top secret and mysterious government agency with their.... Science." she finished lamely  
"Are we going to ignore how Blake told Allison not to let her guard down because it would lead to her death?" Stiles spoke up and judging from the way everybody looked from Allison to the girl, it hadn't been far from any of their minds. Allison was more concerned with _how_ this girl was dangerous  
Derek sighed "Just... Don't get involved, contact to a minimum and Allison?" he turns to address her "don't let your guard down"  
Allison pushed a hand through her hair “What?”  
“Don't get attached”  
Allison stares condescendingly at the man for a good minute before she nods slowly “Okay... So not the best advice you've ever given me Der,” she points at him as she begins to move backwards “But I will take that on board and get back to you” Derek glares at her and Allison knows she shouldn't be sarcastic to him, it's not Derek's fault after all, but this is bullshit and she needs to let her bitch flag fly occasionally  
“Be ready to go, ten minutes tops” Derek calls to her as she turns to where Greenberg is still waiting with the girl  
Allison pulled off her shades, closing them and hanging against her shirt, honestly anything to keep her hands busy so she didn't somehow fuck up and embarrass herself in front of the girl  
She barely spared Greenberg a glance as she came to a stop, up close she was even more attractive, if Allison was being romantic she'd even go so far as to say beautiful, gorgeous even  
It's a good thing she isn't romantic  
The girl gives Allison a once over and holds out her hand  
“Lydia Martin” and god dammit even her voice is sexy  
Allison doesn't take the hand  
“Allison”   
Lydia raised an eyebrow “Allison What?”  
“No last name, just Allison” Allison replied   
“Well then” Lydia regarded her carefully “'Just Allison' I don't believe you”  
Allison hummed “I'll try to keep that in mind”   
“Those are mine” Greenberg spoke up, Allison and Lydia both look to the man, Allison raises an eyebrow and gestures to the sunglasses  
“These? They _were_ yours. Past tense. I told you, they're mine now, or did you forget that when I introduced you to my fist?”  
Greenberg pursed his lips but said nothing, instead, pulling his gun closer to his chest and strode past them, heading in the direction of the bar. Allison ducked her head to laugh “Well then” She looked back to Lydia “We're leaving soon, just throw your bag on the back-seat” Allison gestured towards her car with a thumb over her shoulder, Lydia's brow furrowed as she looked past Allison at her car, disdain evident in the creases of her lips  
Okay, she didn't like her car  
That made it easier to push back any thoughts she was having about this girl  
More specifically naked thoughts, but... Details  
Allison followed her slowly, watching her open the door and climb in, dropping heavily into the passenger seat and slamming the door shut behind her  
“What's the verdict?” Erica appeared beside her “Is she dangerous?”  
“Only to my car apparently” Allison frowned   
“You and that fucking car” Erica groaned, she turned to grin at Allison, clicking her fingers, Allison held a hand up  
“Don't say what you're about to say”  
“What if it's important?”  
“I highly doubt that Reyes”  
Erica sighed. Allison began to walk towards the car, catching Stiles' eye “You could always fuck her in the car!” Erica yells   
Allison doesn't even dignify her with a response as the cackling grows more distant   
“Well?” Stiles asked   
“I really don't see how she's dangerous” Allison muttered, glancing at the girl who was currently putting on an extremely good show of showing how bored she is   
“Maybe she's dangerous in the 'evil scientist' way?”   
“She's a bit young for that isn't she?” Allison frowns  
“Didn't you say the exact same thing to that girl back in Beacon Hills?” Stiles smirked  
“You know about that?”  
“Danny told me”  
Allison hums “Of course he did” she pushes a hand through her hair and catches Lydia's eye again, she turns her attention to Stiles immediately “What's up? I thought we were leaving?”  
“We are” Stiles folded his arms “But we can't really trust this girl so...” He trails off, waving his hand vaguely   
“You're blocking my comm aren't you?” Allison replied  
“Not blocking... Just, keep it on emergency signal”  
“Yeah” Allison nodded, she figured as much  
“You okay?”  
“Yeah” Allison smiled, Stiles seemed unconvinced, Allison lay a hand on his shoulder “I'm fine, I get to sit in a car with a hot yet potentially deadly girl for the next.. How long?”  
“Week, if everything goes okay”  
“A week?”  
“There's a lot of checkpoints and bandit territories Derek would rather us not even risk getting near, so we're taking what might actually be the longest route ever”  
“And that's barring any disasters” Allison groaned   
“Yep”  
“Well, it keeps us on our toes”   
“You know it” Stiles winks “Derek has a motel marked down, we should get there before sunset”  
“I like the sound of that” Allison grinned “Keep Danny out of trouble” she added quietly  
“I have no idea what you're talking about” Stiles replied   
“Seriously Stiles,” Allison reached out to wrap an arm around his shoulder “you make him smile” they both glance over to the boy “God knows he needs it”  
“Have fun with your hot potentially dangerous scientist” Stiles waved  
Allison rolled her eyes and moved around to her side, pulling the door open and sending a wave over in Derek's direction  
She doesn't spare Lydia a glance as she puts the key in the ignition, waiting for Derek and Danny's cars to pass before following them out of the compound  
  
  


They had been driving for hours, Allison tried to make a conscious effort to keep her eyes fixed on Danny's car a few hundred feet in front of her as she rested her head in her hand, the other gripping the steering wheel lazily  
Lydia never spoke, the silence between them only being filled by the steady rock music coming through her stereo. Allison watched the girl from the corner of her eyes, thankful for the shades that concealed most of her actions, she watched the way Lydia seemed to marvel at the passing scenery, hiding it under a haze of mild irritation, stiff posture, eyes directed out of the window  
It takes longer than Allison would like to admit that it was very likely that this was probably the first time Lydia had ever left the compound, this was the first time she was seeing landscapes filled with barren lands, distant towns reduced to nothing more than rubble, abandoned cars and skeletal corpses littered along or near the roads  
She couldn't stop thinking, Director Blake's words echoing through her mind. Lydia didn't _look_ dangerous, not in the way Allison was used to seeing anyway, she didn't look like she knew how to fight, how to fire a gun. She probably didn't even know how to drive  
Blake had said a lot of stuff though, the way she had looked at Allison, her words towards the team... Allison allowed herself to frown, she trusted Blake just as much as she trusted Peter, the fact that the pair were obviously familiar with one another left her with an unsettled feeling, she knew that Derek had felt it too, wouldn't be surprised if the others had also picked up on it. It made Allison wonder if Blake knew what had transpired, if she did, how many others also knew?  
Allison let her head fall back against the headrest of her seat, saw Lydia watch the movement from the corner of her eye before returning to sightseeing  
What she's trying to see, Allison doesn't know, there's nothing but death outside of these two doors  
  


Another hour passes before Allison gets fed up, hugs the steering wheel with her knees and pulls off her jacket  
"What are you doing?!" Lydia's hand grabs the steering wheel, Allison freezes, one arm still caught as she turns to stare at the girl  
"...What?" Allison frowned  
"You're _driving_ "  
"And?"  
Lydia makes a sound of indignation "You're not even wearing a seatbelt!"  
Allison's confusion only grows, she pulls off her jacket and throws it into the back-seat as she bats away Lydia's hand from the wheel "Why would I wear a seatbelt?" Allison asked, glancing back at Lydia from the road  
Lydia scoffed "In case you crash?" she talks to Allison as though she would talk to a five year old  
Allison laughs before she can help herself, Lydia raises an eyebrow but Allison cuts her off before she can reply "And crash into what? The plethora of traffic?" Allison laughs and waves a hand around "Please, the day I'm in a car accident it'll be because _I_ wasn't behind the wheel"  
"If you insist on driving like a maniac you should at least wear a seatbelt"  
"You think using my knees to keep the steering wheel steady is driving like a maniac?" Allison laughs again, oh this girl had _no idea_ , Allison made a point of informing Lydia of this  
"Oh, great." Lydia rolled her eyes "This is just great, the person holding me captive is a fucking manic driver"  
Allison does almost swerve at that. Almost. "Captive?"  
Lydia gives her that look again "Yes. Captive" Lydia turns back to look out ahead of them "Did you really think I was here of my own consent?"  
Allison had to pause for thought. A part of her had hoped that it was the case, that Stiles was right and this girl was some brilliant scientist that held the key for the cure of the virus or some other fucking dreamlike miracle Allison dared to allow herself to dream about in the quieter moments. She knew she worked for a fucked up company, they own the tattered remains of this country, they executed rebels after torturing them to the brink, any civilian who spoke against them was shot, any who couldn't pull their own weight within the compound was shot or cast out. Anybody who was bitten was shot. They controlled outside affairs, the supplies that was given out, the credits it cost to pay for the supplies needed to live  
One of the perks of the wasteland, credits had little value compared to that of honest labour, a place to stay in exchange for a night of patrol, gas for for a fixed car, food for a TV channel  
But there was the power they held, driving in the shadow of Lykaion, she didn't quite know what Derek did when he went into each establishment alone, what he said to them, how he brokered each detail. He never said and she never asked.  
She looked back over to Lydia "If it's any consolation. I didn't know we transporting a girl"  
Lydia scoffed and turned to Allison "Would that have changed anything?"  
Peter's words echoed in her mind "No," she replied eventually, grip tightening on the wheel slightly "No it wouldn't"  
"I thought as much" Lydia nodded just as the music finished "Thank _God_ , do you have anything that isn't depressing as fuck?"  
Allison frowned at the sudden shift, simultaneously thankful for it at the same time "Glove compartment" she waved vaguely. They were both silent as Lydia pulled out the worn box and began to rummage through, a crease in her forehead as she studied each tape, dropping them back into the box with little care  
  


Ten minutes later Lydia put a new tape in, punctuating the movement with a firm "Your taste in music is shit"  
Allison shot the girl a glare, feeling her agitation rise "I'm not exactly used to sharing my car, so catering to other peoples tastes aren't really on my list of things to do"  
"Oh so _that's_ it"  
"What?" Allison glared, she was getting pissed now  
"The seventies rock, the car that is older than time-"  
Allison muttered a curse under her breath, why did people always have to target her car? Maybe she could convince Derek to take the girl, hell, she would trade Danny for Scott, Scott wouldn't insult her car or music. She tuned herself back into Lydia's continuous rant  
"-I mean, this car has to be a death-trap"  
"There's nothing wrong with the car"  
"Really?" Lydia stared at her, "Out of everything I said, _that's_ what you fixate on?"  
"I stopped listening" Allison muttered  
"Of course you did" Lydia sighed  
"This is what I think. You're scared" Allison kept her eyes on the road "You don't know me, you don't know my team, you might not know where you're going or why so you're hiding it under all of this bitchy emotion-"  
"Bitch isn't an emotion" Lydia pointed out  
"Yeah well, if it was, you'd be the embodiment of it"  
Lydia laughed suddenly and okay, it really shouldn't be that attractive "I like you, well, no. No I don't, I kind of hate you on account of all of this," Lydia waved a hand "but this is going to be fun"

  
Allison wasn't even sure how much time had passed when Lydia speaks again, Allison feels eyes on her for over ten minutes beforehand, the sun is hanging low in the sky and Derek had appeared over the comm twenty minutes ago to tell them they were around an hour from the motel  
"You're right you know"  
Allison cleared her throat "Right about what?"  
"I don't know you"  
"Great observation" Allison remarks dryly  
"Tell me about yourself" Lydia smiled, that alone signalled a red light in the back of Allison's mind "We're going to be stuck together for... how long?"  
"A week, barring any disasters"  
Lydia seemed shocked by the statement but recovered easily enough, countering with "What's your last name?"  
"I don't have one"  
"Right, right.. 'Just Allison'" Lydia hummed "Parents?"  
"Dead"  
"Bombs, war or virus?"  
Allison paused, in the rare occasions people asked about her family, they never asked for details behind their deaths, as far as they were concerned, dead was dead "Riots" Allison mumbled eventually, lips curled down to a frown "Yours?" Allison asked before Lydia could have a chance to follow that train of thought any more   
Lydia pursed her lips and stared at Allison for a minute “Mom died. Any brothers or sisters?"  
Allison paused, thinking to Scott, Stiles and Derek, she always saw Melissa as her mother, even if she never outright said it, the feelings were definitely there, by proxy Scott technically became her brother, as did Stiles after his father died, they shared a house for years, knew almost everything about one another and she did always refer to them as her adoptive brothers. But honestly, they didn't have the same relationship she shared with Derek. Derek could read her better than anyone she knew, they had suffered through similar traumas and come out the other side of it together, he played the role of an older brother and was always so protective of Allison when she had been younger, honestly, it was because of him she was still alive. He had saved her life more times to count, and that was before they got out onto the wasteland. "Three brothers” Allison replied eventually “Adoptive" she adds  
Lydia nods in understanding "Are they?"  
"Alive? Yes"  
"Why not take one of their names?" Lydia asked, Allison chanced a glance, surprised to see what looked like genuine curiosity in the girls eyes  
Allison grimaced, "Because none of them sounded right" they had talked about it, not so much with Stiles, he only held onto the Stilinski name to honour his father, but she had considered it for a while, the thought of calling herself McCall, Melissa had raised her, but ultimately, like Stiles, honouring her family was more important. And becoming a Hale was just wrong on so many levels, Derek had agreed and the matter was never discussed again  
"So you just chose to have no last name?"  
"It's not like I need one" Allison replied “Post war, deadly virus infested country? Last names are probably at the bottom of the list of things to give a fuck about” She could see a building on the horizon, was willing to bet it was the motel, she breathed a sigh of relief  
"So," Lydia drew the word out "Your brothers, they're in this team aren't they?"  
Allison nodded "They are"  
"Which ones?" Lydia asked  
"What are you doing?" Allison shot back  
"I'm _bored_ "  
"Didn't you bring anything with you?" Allison sighed, she couldn't deal with this for a week  
"Well yes. I have some books in my bag"  
"Then read them"  
"But this is more fun" Lydia smirked "I want to get to know you"  
"It's not going to work you know" Allison muttered  
Lydia at least had the decency to feign shock "what isn't going to work?"  
"This," Allison gestured between them "you suddenly being all friendly and questioning into my background, it's not going to make me let my guard down"  
"I'm offended that you would think I would do such a thing"  
"Am I wrong?" Allison asked  
Lydia responded with a smile that is all teeth "I think I might have underestimated you"  
"Things like that could be the death of you if you aren't careful" Allison looked back to Lydia  
"I think you're driving is going to be the death of me, focus on the road!" Lydia admonished  
Allison smirked and locked eyes with Lydia "You really think I’m a bad driver?" Allison let her foot press down on the gas, grinning as Lydia's eyes widened and looked between Allison and the road, Allison knew that Danny's car was parked a few hundred feet away  
"Are you crazy?" Lydia yelped "Fucking look at the road!"  
Allison kept her gaze on Lydia, trying not to laugh at the horror on the girls face, she probably shouldn't be doing this, it's too telling, Lydia knowing what to say to get to her, don't get attached Derek said  
It hasn't even been a day and Lydia probably knows more about her than a majority of people she's lived with back in Beacon Hills yet Allison knew nothing beyond her name and that she really had a vendetta against Allison's car. She could see Danny's car in her peripheral vision, getting incredibly close, only serving to increase Lydia's panic  
"You're going to kill us both!"  
Allison slammed the breaks on, the car coming to a screeching halt, silence descended on the pair and Allison watched in amusement as Lydia looked between her and Danny's car outside. Lydia's expression of horror morphed into anger and Allison was sure for a moment the girl was going to slap her  
"You _fool_ " Lydia hissed "You could've killed us"  
Allison rolled her eyes "Never question my driving" she replied coolly, pulling herself up, ignoring Lydia's muttered curses as Allison perched on the open window, folding her arms on the roof of the car as she stared out at the motel, the wire gate surrounding it, she could see a elderly man fixing a pane of wood to what she assumed was a recent tear in the wiring, a wolf attack then and if judging by the way Derek was talking to the woman on the other side of the shut gate, they weren't really feeling very accepting of visitors right now  
"Hey Alli" Danny greeted, sitting on his own window, he frowned at the front of her car, Allison grinned as she followed his gaze, how there couldn't have been more than a few inches between them "Did she insult your car?" he asked with a smirk  
"Like _five_ times!" Allison groaned  
Danny laughed warmly "Can you not do your scary driving tricks with me in front of you?"  
"Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind" She looks back over to Derek and the woman, can't make out their expressions, "Is there a problem?"  
"Your guess is as good as mine" Danny folded his arms on the roof of the car "How is it having a driving companion?"  
"She doesn't like my music, hates my car and questioned my driving skills"  
"I can hear you" Lydia called from inside the car  
"Good to know" Allison replied, leaning down to smirk at the girl  
Boyd's car slowed to a halt behind Allison, Erica's grin leaning out of her own window  
"Hey Allison" Erica purred "How's the hottie? Did she treat you to some road head?" She called, far too loud for Allison's liking  
Allison felt a blush creeping up Allison's neck, steadfastly refusing to look down at Lydia "Reyes, I will shoot you." she yelled back  
Erica blinked at her and laughed "so.... That's a no then?"  
Allison gaped at the girl, the logistics of what Erica had said were just... It wouldn't work, not without guaranteeing Lydia's premonition of Allison finally causing a car crash  
"Allison" Derek called  
Allison blinked, pushing all thoughts of car sex from her mind "yeah?" She clears her throat, Erica just laughs harder  
"You didn't hear any of that did you?"  
Allison felt her blush intensify, Allison immediately blamed Lydia, damn her and that pretty face and those stupid kissable lips and...  
"Allison!"  
"Sorry" Allison groaned  
"Look," Derek moved to stop on the other side of Allison's car, Scott and stiles were peering out of the window "they had a wolf attack last night, lost a few chickens, they said we can stay,"  
"If?" Allison prompted  
"If we help with patrol tonight and strengthen the fence"  
"Awesome" Allison nodded "how can I help?"  
"Not you," Derek paused to give a not so subtle glance at Lydia "Boyd and Scott can help with the fence, the rest of us will draw lots and take it in turns to patrol"  
Allison sighed as the gate opened, gripping onto the edge of the roof of her car and slid back through the window, dropping heavily into her seat with a scowl  
Lydia was smirking when Allison settled into the seat "What?" Allison muttered  
"Oh nothing" Lydia sang, she peered out at the motel, nose wrinkling in disdain "Will there be a shower?"  
"If we're lucky" Allison muttered, following Danny slowly "Whether that shower will be hot is a whole new level"  
"Lovely"  
"Welcome to the wasteland"

  
  
Lydia watches the cook in the kitchen, how he moves around frantically barking orders to the rest of the occupants as they make the groups orders, it's not like Lydia was complaining, at least they were feeding her.  
Lydia looked over to the where the group were huddled around one table, Allison and another man being the only ones to stay standing, Allison had directed Lydia into a seat at the end of the diner before moving back to her team, making sure they were between Lydia and the exit. Her eyes scanned the group, half of them seemed completely harmless, the boy with the crooked jaw and the boy with the curly hair seemed like puppies, the tan boy with the warm smile and the one currently flailing his arms around seemed equally as harmless as they talked about what Lydia could only assume were their plans, the dark skinned boy seemed like he could lift a car with his bare hands and the blonde girl had a wide smile, black heeled boots and a low cut top, the shotgun on her back only added to the dangerous vibe- she also got on Allison's nerves a lot, if the way the brunette had reacted earlier was anything to go by (Lydia suspects Allison hopes that she hadn't heard, of course she did, the blonde had a big mouth)  
Lydia looks over to Allison and the man she's stood beside, the way they seem to almost match stances, even down to the way they hold their mugs of coffee, Lydia was willing to bet he was one of the brothers, she'd have to ask about the other two, but if the way Allison was giving a dimpled smile the flailing boy- Stiles, she thinks his name is, she would assume he was the second  
The man she's beside seems to be the only one Lydia would assume to be capable of killing someone, he just had that vibe around him, even Allison had some kind of dangerous edge to her, but Lydia assumed that was down to her driving skills and not the way her eyes had glinted mischievously, the way the light hit her face and accentuated her jawline.  
The girl had dimples for crying out loud, how dangerous could she be?  
 _And_ Allison had seemed shocked when Lydia had referred to herself as a captive, not a good play on Lydia's part. She needed to try and back-pedal on that if she got a chance, the last thing she needed was for the team to get anxious thinking she was something dangerous and decide to put a bullet in her brain before she has a chance to escape  
She sighs inwardly, she needed to play her cards right if she was going to get out of this. Two waitresses came out of the kitchen, both balancing plates in their hands and Lydia saw Allison say something to the rest of her team, smile fondly at the boy with the crooked jaw and ruffle his hair before turning and heading towards her. She sits down just as the waitress sets their plates down and Lydia finds that they both frown at the 'mac and cheese' in front of her  
Allison raises an eyebrow at Lydia as Lydia reaches for her fork and takes a hesitant bite  
It's.... Edible  
“That's why you go for things like burgers” Allison smirked   
Lydia rolled her eyes as the pair ate In silence for a while before a thought made itself present in her mind  
“Why aren't you eating with your team?” Lydia asked  
“In a nutshell?” Allison replied, not looking up from her dinner “You”  
“I'm not surprised” Lydia muttered “So is this what you guys do? Drive women across the country?”   
Allison's eyes met her own, the girl frowned “I told you we didn't know you were a girl, but... We're in no position to turn down a job, our hands are tied”  
Lydia leant forward, food temporarily forgotten “Does it have something to do with one Peter Hale?” Lydia may not know much about Allison or her team, but she knows where she's going, she knows who calls the shots. She knows that from the way Allison's expressions are becoming more closed off that she knows she's right and that by mentioning the mans name has made a seriously bad decision “Yeah” Lydia sighs “I thought so”  
Allison nods, taking another sip of her coffee, Lydia watches the gears turn in the brunettes mind as Lydia contemplates her next move, Lydia hears laughter come from the tables once more  
“The guy with the stubble, that's your brother isn't it?”  
Allison looks over to the man “Yeah”   
“He's the leader?”  
“Yep”   
Lydia nods to herself, that means he's Derek Hale, Peter Hale's nephew, interesting that Allison would see him as a brother, that she implied that Derek would be her adoptive brother. She studies Allison for a moment, she knows the history of the Hales, Peter is the only other living member but he doesn't strike Lydia as the type to take in a young girl   
Lydia wants to ask questions, undeniably fascinated by Allison and she'd be lying if she said that Allison wasn't incredibly sexy.  
But the fact remains that she can't get attached, she needs to get away and she'll be damned if she lets a pretty face get in her way of her freedom, she doesn't know what Peter wants with her at Lykaion and she doesn't care to find out  
But she still needs for Allison to lower her guard, so Lydia decides to ask one more question and can only hope that Allison plays into her hand  
“Why did you become a....” Lydia waves a hand vaguely  
Allison raises an eyebrow “A transporter?”  
“That's what you call yourself?” Lydia replies before she can help herself, Allison looks amused by her response and goes back to her burger “But yeah, why a transporter?”  
Allison shrugged “Didn't wanna be stuck inside the compound all my life, there's no job there I’m good at, so...” Allison sets her burger down and stares at it for a moment “So being on the road most of the time just suited me better, and someone has to take care of those idiots” Allison gestures behind her vaguely “What about you?” She finally looks at Lydia, doe brown eyes watching her curiously “What did you do?”  
Lydia frowned, ducked her head to poke at her mac and cheese, internally grinning. Bingo.   
“Officially, nothing, I was training to work in the labs, I studied the virus as a hobby and my mother saw the potential before she died”   
Allison's eyes widen and she shifts forward slightly in her seat “You studied the virus?”  
“Yeah”   
“And?”  
Lydia frowned “And what?”  
“What did you learn?”  
Lydia allowed herself to smile, looks like she just found one of Allison's weak spots   
“What do you mean?”  
“Well,” Allison downs the rest of her coffee and Lydia watches her expression shift, as though trying to hide her interest “nobody really knows much about it, if they do they aren't telling anyone”  
“Well nobody has ever officially published anything...”  
“But you have theories right?” Allison asked  
“I do”   
“And?”   
Lydia blew a breath from her nose, she couldn't help but smile wider, this was a perfect opportunity, she could convince Allison that she was nothing more than a scientist, nothing potentially dangerous- that would buy her more time if she doesn't get a chance to escape tonight. It was a chance to show off just how smart she really was and thirdly, it was rare for someone to actually take an interest in what she thought  
“Okay” Lydia pushed her plate to one side, locking eyes with Allison “So my general hypothesis Is that the Omega virus is almost like a new strain of the rabies virus, like a hybrid maybe. It's present in the saliva of the infected wolves, that's how it's transferred to us, but it's spread between the wolves through breeding and such”  
“But the blood isn't infected” Allison says  
“It is....But so far it hasn't infected anybody, it's only through a bite we're infected” Lydia shrugs  
“But why is that?” Allison frowned “And why doesn't it move from human to human?”  
“My theory? It's weak” Lydia clicks her tongue “It's not strong enough to break down our defences”  
Allison stares at Lydia like _she's_ an idiot “It kills people.”   
Lydia sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose “When the virus is inside of us, the viral enzymes take over those of the host cell and make copies-” She cuts herself off when she sees Allison's blank expression “Look. The virus can't stay within our body for too long before it destroys us and itself, it hasn't adapted enough, once inside of us, it multiplies too fast, in some people with such speed it turns them rabid, it travels to the brain and makes you crazy, understand?”  
Allison huffs but nods, her now empty plate pushed to one side “So that... kind of explains rabid, but what about the others? Bonding, why does that happen?”  
“Now that is the mystery” Lydia hummed “Honestly I can't help you there”  
“But if you were to guess?”  
“Well, it's like among the wolves, they don't die from being infected do they?”  
Allison shook her head “I was going to ask you why that was”  
“Well, I read that there is a breed of monkey called a macaque, they carry a strain of herpes B and well, that killed- kills over seventy percent of the people it infects,” Allison's eyes widened at her words “Thank god we don't have _that_ here any more right?” Lydia adds, Allison doesn't respond “Anyway, it doesn't bother the macaque, it's nothing more than a mild irritation to them”  
“But for us it's deadly” Allison nods  
“Exactly”  
“So... The virus doesn't bother the wolves?”  
“Well, it bothers them, it just doesn't kill them. You've seen wolves right?” Lydia frowns, it seems like a stupid question to ask  
“Of course” Allison replies in a way that only makes Lydia more aware of just how stupid of a question it was, Allison waves a hand “Okay so the wolves I get, I don't really care about them either, but that doesn't explain why people bond”  
Lydia sighs, runs a hand through her hair “Okay one hypothesis is that somewhere deep in our ancestry we share DNA with wolves”  
“That's fucked up” Allison interrupts with a frown  
“OR” Lydia holds a hand up “those who bond with the virus have an aberration in a chromosome-”  
“Aberration?” Allison tilts her head to the side  
“A abnormality, so the people who bond have a fault in one or more chromosomes, a structural abnormality that would leave it resembling a chromosome found in a wolf”  
Allison stares at Lydia, she watches the brunette soak in the words, confusion clear in her features “So... What you're saying is... People who can bond are only able to do because there's a fault in their chromosome that tricks the virus into thinking it's bonding with a wolf?”  
Lydia grins, Allison is smarter than Lydia initially pegged her to be “Well, that's _my_ theory”  
Allison hums thoughtfully “I like yours more....” She smiles at Lydia “But then again, any theory is better than knowing our ancestors fucked a wolf”  
“Charming” Lydia frowned, pushing away _that_ mental image, judging by Allison's expression, the girl is going through a similar trauma   
“But...” Allison is watching her again “I'm still confused, I’ve learnt more from you in like twenty minutes than probably anybody else has in fifteen years, why haven't they told us anything? Like, if you're right and Omega is like a hybrid of rabies, shouldn't they have a decent understanding of it?”  
“They should” Lydia agreed  
Allison purses her lips as she stares at Lydia, eyes flickering over her face so Lydia takes the chance to stare back, studying Allison in detail, the curve of her lips, the line of her jaw, dark brown curls that frame her face perfectly  
Okay Allison is a lot more attractive than Lydia first thought  
“You're smart” Allison says eventually, she says it in a tone that leaves Lydia thinking the girl has decided something “It isn't going to work though”  
“What isn't?” Lydia asks, feigning innocence  
Allison grins suddenly “I'm still not going to let my guard down”  
Lydia grins back “I don't know what you're talking about”  
“Liar” Allison smirks  
“Allison!” the blonde yells from the table where the rest of the team are still sat, Allison twists her head to look at the group   
“Don't go anywhere” Allison says as she climbs from her seat  
“Couldn't if I wanted to” Lydia replies “Apparently” she adds quietly, so Allison still wasn't letting her guard down, she was good.  
Lydia sighed as she watched Allison talk with her group, caught her cast a not so subtle look at her before averting her gaze. Lydia felt a bubble of hope  
She still had one option left

  
  
“ Hows it going Argent?” Erica asked, keeping her voice down low  
“Yeah, what's the verdict?” Isaac chimed in  
“I think Stiles is right-”  
“FUCK YEAH!” Stiles fist pumps the air with a grin “Wait, right about what?”  
“I think she's just a scientist, like... She know  _ a lot  _ about Omega, like, I learned more from her during that meal than I have in fifteen years”  
“What'd you learn?” Scott asked  
“Well, she thinks it's evolved from rabies, like it's a new strain and the reason it bonded with you guys is because there's something wrong with one of your chromosomes and it resembles one that a wolf has so the virus just kinda... gets cancelled out?” Allison frowns “That's....That's what I got from it anyway...She's really smart okay? I didn't want to ask any more questions” she defends as she looks at the blank faces of the group “I get the feeling she was already... simplifying things for me”  
“I'm not even sure what you just said” Erica stated bluntly “But it sounds very sciency”   
“Sciency isn't a word” Danny muttered   
“It is now Mahealani”   
“So you don't think she's dangerous?” Derek asked  
Allison glanced over to Lydia, catching the girls eye and watching her grin, Allison turned back to the group immediately “I wouldn't say that” she ran a hand through her hair and tried to ignore the shit eating grin Erica was giving her “She's trying to make me lower my guard”  
“How do you know?” Danny asked  
“Because, driving here she switched from insulting my car and my driving to asking about my life and then when I called her out on it she insulted my driving. Again.”  
“So?” Scott frowned “She's curious about you”   
Allison smiled at the boy, holding a hand in front of Erica to silence any joke she was about to say “She tried to ask more questions just, so I switched it to make her talk about herself”  
“And you think that she's trying to get you to let your guards down?” Boyd leant forward so Allison could see him clearly “Why?”  
“Well, she may just be a scientist, but she doesn't want to go to Peter, so she probably wants to escape” Allison shrugged “If she's desperate enough she'll probably try to kill me”  
Stiles gaped at her “You seem... Really calm about that”  
“It's whatever” Allison glanced back over to Lydia “I'm not worried. I kinda trust her”  
“You're not going to let her get to you?” Derek asked, Allison could hear the edge of concern to his voice, she smiled encouragingly and nudged him gently with her hip   
“Of course not, I learnt from the best after all” she grins up at him  
“I have an idea” Erica rests her chin in her hand, Allison raised an eyebrow at the blonde “Sleep with her, make her lower  _ her  _ guard and then everything will be fine” she held a key out to Allison “You're sharing a room with her anyway, may as well make the most of it”  
“Not everything can be fixed with a quick fuck Erica” Allison remarked as she snatched the key from her   
“And that would definitely be getting attached” Derek adds   
“Which we definitely don't want to happen”  
“Jesus, have you losers never heard of friends with benefits? Or in this case... Enemies?” Erica frowns, but nods to herself “Yeah, enemies with benefits. No feelings attached”  
Allison needed for this conversation to be over now, it didn't help that she could feel Lydia's eyes on her   
“I don't get why I can't help patrol” Allison murmured   
“Because I said so” Derek replied with a shrug, Allison turned to glare at the older man, only to have him glare back “Stiles and Danny are going to be in the rooms either side of you, the rest of us are taking it in turns to patrol overnight”  
Allison narrows her eyes at Derek “I can't make you change your mind can I?”  
“No”  
“Not even-”  
“Go to bed Allison” Derek folded his arms  
“Fine!” Allison threw her arms up “Ugh, you're the worst” she groaned, she looks over to Lydia “You ready?” she calls  
Lydia frowns but nods after a moment and climbs out of the booth and walks towards them “Have a good night you guys” Allison waves  
“Shouldn't I be saying that to you?” Erica smirks, casting a glance to Lydia “Don't do anything I wouldn't do”  
“I'm not doing anything” Allison hisses, reaching over to slap the back of Erica's head “Stop saying that shit around her”  
“You're no fun” Erica pouts  
Allison groans, she can't kill Erica, that would make Boyd sad. Maybe maim. Allison nods to herself, maiming is good. Lydia reaches them and casts hesitant glances to the rest of the group  
“We're heading to the room” Allison holds up the key as explanation “But we gotta go get the bags from the car first”  
Lydia raises an eyebrow “Why not bring them into the diner with you in the first place?” She asks  
“Because of a multitude of reasons” Allison retorted, folding her arms defiantly, honestly, Lydia had a point, but Allison will be damned if she told the redhead that, this girl already had a knack for getting under her skin, more ammunition was not what she needed  
“If you say so” Lydia grins, walking past them all with a sway in her hips that makes Allison pause  
“I like her” Erica chuckles “She knows how to ruffle your feathers”  
“My feathers aren't ruffled Reyes.” Allison replied in an agitated tone “I'll see you guys In the morning” She smiles at the group as she flicks Erica in the forehead   
“G'night Alli” Stiles mumbles through his food, the rest of them chorusing their good nights  
They're all such assholes, but she loved them. Even Erica. Sometimes.  


She didn't realise Derek was following her until he spoke up  
“I have it under good authority that you don't really think that” Derek mutters  
“Don't what?” Allison asked, keeping a careful eye on the girl in front of them   
“Think I’m the worst”  
“Of course not you idiot, I love you” Allison rolled her eyes  
Derek keeps his eyes trained on Lydia “You'll be careful around her?”  
“Of course”  
“Because I know you like her” Derek looks down to Allison   
“I don't-”  
“Allison”   
Allison sighs “I've got it under control, it's just cause she's new y'know?”   
“Just be careful” Derek says again  
“It's under control” Allison repeats, she has to cling to those words, needs to hold onto that fact. Lydia is a  _ job.  _ She needs to remember that, she's a package that needs to be delivered to Peter, her boss, the man who essentially runs the country, has so much power over her and Allison can't throw that away without risking herself, risking her team  
“Are you trying to convince me? Or yourself?” Derek asked quietly  
Allison laughs and looks over to him “You know me to well”  
“That's what a brother does Allison” Derek replies, smiling fondly at her and the thing is, Allison never asked for Derek to take her under his wing, for him to become her protective big brother (even if he didn't openly show it around their team much) But it came naturally to him, Allison knew she could never replace the siblings his lost, could never replace his little sister Cora, but he never asked her to. He stumbled into her life and saved her and had never left. He taught her how to drive, how to fix cars, how to shoot and he always,  _ always  _ had her back and came to her defence- even when it meant standing up to Peter   
Allison owed her life to Derek

 

Lydia leant against the door of Allison's car and watched the interaction curiously, the way Derek glances at her, clearly distrusting of her, watches him say something to Allison and sees the smile stretch over the girls face as she nudges him with her hip in an affectionate gesture. Derek spares one last look at Lydia before nodding at Allison and heading to the wire fencing  
Allison tosses something at Lydia as she moves towards the trunk, Lydia scrambles to catch it and can just make out the room number on the edge of the key  
“So we're sharing?” Lydia asked, lips quirked in amusement  
“Don't read too much into it” Allison says, pulling two duffel’s from the trunk, Lydia watches as Allison gets her bag from the back-seat of the car and drops it by Lydia's feet “Lead the way” Allison gestures, moving to retrieve her own bags and staring expectantly at Lydia.  
Lydia huffs as she grabs her bag, glancing at the room number as she sets off in search of it, she'd complain but she can feel Allison's eyes on her the entire time, Lydia smiles to herself and adds an extra sway to her hips

  
Lydia pushes the door open and flicks on the light, frowning at the room, one bed and Lydia highly doubts that those sheets have been washed recently, a TV with a cracked screen, a bible, a well worn armchair near where she's stood  
It'll have to do.  
Lydia takes a few steps into the room and throws her bag onto the bed, turning as the door closes behind her. Lydia watches Allison deposit her two bags on the armchair, her jacket following close behind, Lydia takes a moment to admire the muscles in the girls arms- really, she could have done much worse when being held captive, she could have ended up with a guy like Greenberg instead of a mustang driving, brown eyed goddess of a girl.  
And Allison clearly wasn't biting when she tried to dig into the girls past, so fuck it. Plan B.  
Lydia closed the few steps distance between them, Allison barely having time to raise an eyebrow before Lydia's hands were buried in dark curls, tugging Allison's lips against hers, Allison kisses back immediately, unthinkingly, Lydia pushes forward until she has Allison against the door, tugging the brunettes lip between her teeth and licking into her mouth when Allison moans, fingers digging into her waist as Allison rocks her own hips forward. Lydia kisses with determination, biting at Allison's lips, sucking on her tongue. At some point Allison pushes forward, gets Lydia pinned against the door, kissing back with a similar intensity, hands on either side of Lydia's head, pressed against the door, one of Lydia's hands moves around the back of Allison's neck, intent on adjusting the angle on what is honestly, a really good kiss, when her fingers brush against the silver chain Lydia had noticed on the girl during the course of the day  
The action seems to vault Allison back into reality because the girl breaks away with such force that by the time Lydia opens her eyes Allison is halfway across the room, staring back at her with wide eyes  
Allison just stares at her for a long time, Lydia clasps her hands behind her and leans back against the door, raising an eyebrow as she watches Allison, the way her chest is heaving, her pink cheeks and bitten lips  
“What's with the necklace?” Lydia asks casually when it becomes clear Allison isn't going to speak without being prompted  
Allison clears her throat and runs a hand along the back of her neck before meeting Lydia's eyes “It belonged to my dad”  
“A silver bullet?”  
“Yeah” Allison nods, moving to the TV and pressing the button, seeming apparently shocked when it doesn't turn on, seriously, there's a giant crack in the screen “It was his good luck charm”  
Clearly didn't work then, considering the guy was dead, but Lydia strongly suspected Allison wouldn't appreciate that being brought up, the girl already looks slightly traumatised  
“Are we going to talk about it?”   
“No” Allison's eyes cleared, a new determination in them “That isn't going to happen again”  
“Are you sure?” Lydia asked, pushing away from the door and moving towards Allison, who holds a hand up and steps around her to open one of her bags. Lydia watches the girl move “Because I’m pretty sure you were into that”  
“It isn't happening again” Allison says quietly, now holding some fresh clothes in her hand “We,” She gestures between them “aren't happening”   
“I saw you checking me out back in Echidna” Lydia replied easily   
“That was before-”  
“I became your captive”   
Allison holds her gaze “Precisely. Things are different now”  
“They don't have to be” Lydia smirks  
“Well.... They are” Allison replies eventually and Lydia _knows_ she didn't just imagine the hesitation in the girls voice “I know what you were trying to do” She adds with a sigh  
“I don't know what you're talking about” Lydia replies innocently  
Allison blinks at her “Do you want the shower first?”  
“No” Lydia frowns at the sudden shift, if Allison isn't going to do what Lydia had hoped... Well, it only left one option really. “I'll shower in the morning”   
“We're leaving early”  
“I can handle it” Lydia dismisses with a wave  
“If you say so.” Allison runs a hand through her hair, looking more composed than she had a few minutes ago “Can I trust you not to try and run away while I shower?” as she says it, Lydia sees movement from behind the window, one of Allison's team mates most likely  
“No”   
Allison nods again and walks past, somehow managing to leave a good gap between them   
“Was it at least a good kiss?” Lydia asks just as Allison reaches the bathroom  
Allison looks over her shoulder and stares at her for a moment “No”  
Lydia grins “You're lying”  
Allison lets out a breathy chuckle “Yeah. Yeah, I’m lying” and the door clicks shut. A few moments later Lydia hears the shower running  
She brushes a finger over her lips  
It was a really good kiss  
But Lydia _really_ needed to get out of here, she wasn't going to let a kiss get in the way of that.   
Lydia wandered over to Allison's bags, pushing the one full of clothes out of the way and unzipping the one underneath, not at all shocked to find a small arsenal of weaponry inside. Lydia kept her ears tuned into the sound of the shower in the bathroom as she pulled knives, bullets, even a fucking crossbow from the bag. Her fingers brushed against the spine of a book, but she pushed past it until she decided to pull one of the knives from the bag, holding it carefully in her hands  
Lydia looked back at the bathroom door and sighed again. She grabs Allison's jacket and pulls the car keys from the pocket and is careful to put the jacket exactly where she got it

  
  
“Idiot” Allison muttered to herself, forehead pressed against the cool tiles of the bathroom as the water washed over her  
One job.  
She had one fucking job  
Don't get attached. Then there she is, making out with Lydia like there's no tomorrow  
“I have it under control” Allison mutters in a mocking tone, “Stupid, stupid....” Allison groans, pushing her hands through soaked hair, she feels the water turn freezing but stays under for a few moments longer, letting the cold seep into her skin. She had let Lydia play with her, she had _let_ Lydia kiss her  
And she had kissed back enthusiastically  
Derek was going to kill her   
Allison shut off the shower and dried herself off, pulling on fresh clothes and braiding her hair. She let her fingers ghost over her lips  
It was a really fucking good kiss  
“I'm fucked” Allison sighed to her reflection   
Derek was definitely going to kill her

  
  
Lydia looked up from her spot on the bed when Allison emerged, still damp hair held together in a braid. Lydia frowned at the girls clothes, she was dressed almost identically save for now she was wearing a white v-neck with the sleeves rolled up slightly  
“It's in case we get ambushed in the night” Allison mumbles as she shoves her dirty clothes into her bag   
“Smart” Lydia mutters, eyes trained on Allison's back, honestly, Lydia's reasoning was more along the lines of she didn't have enough time to pack and the clothes she did pack consisted mostly of skirts or dresses and seeing as Allison clearly had no intention of having sex with her tonight Lydia wasn't going to just strip and sleep nude “So we're just not going to talk about it?”  
“That's the plan” Allison replied, her back still to Lydia “There's nothing to talk about anyway. You kissed me”  
“And you kissed back”   
Allison stands up and turns to Lydia “I did.” She agreed “But I also ended it. Now are you going to behave or do I have to use these?” Allison holds up a pair of handcuffs, Lydia merely raises an eyebrow as she stares at the item on Allison's hand  
“So that's what you're into? Hm, good to know”  
Allison rolls her eyes “Look, I feel like everything you've done today has been to try and get me to let my guard down so you can escape”  
Lydia counts to five in her mind before she replies “I'm not sure how that works”  
“You're smart” Allison smirks “I'm sure you would have found a way. So I’ll ask again. Do I need to use these? Or are you going to stay put”  
Lydia sighed “I'm going to stay put”   
Allison nodded and dropped the handcuffs back into the bag “I thought so” She walked over to the side of the bed “Because I’m exhausted and I really don't want to deal with you making an escape attempt”   
“Duly noted” Lydia huffed as Allison dropped onto the bed, folding an arm under her head and smirking up at Lydia  
Lydia can't help but feel like the girl is playing a game with her, her attitude completely relaxed compared to how she was after the kiss they shared. Lydia realised she probably got herself off in the shower, that was the only reason that jumped to Lydia's mind.  
Lydia shook away _those_ mental images immediately “Not turning off the lights?” she asked, clearing her throat and refusing to let herself do something stupid like blush  
“Nope” Allison closed her eyes “Goodnight”  
Lydia stared down at the girl before shrugging and lying down beside her, neither making a move to pull the sheets up over them 

 

The clock on the wall told Lydia that two hours had passed since Allison had closed her eyes, it felt like longer so Lydia had a strong suspicion that the batteries were slow, either way, when Lydia rolled over she watched the steady rise and fall of Allison's chest carefully, listening to the girl breath evenly, definitely asleep then. Lydia eased herself from the bed, taking as much time as she could to minimise her chances of making a sound. Lydia reached under her pillow and pulled out the knife, gripping it so tight her knuckles turned white.  
She made her way around the bed and studies Allison, the girl really was beautiful, Lydia couldn't fault that, and in another life maybe they could have been friends, more than friends even  
It really wasn't personal, but there was no way in hell Lydia was going to Peter Hale  
She had spent enough time In the labs to see what they did to the Vox they brought in. Watched men and women alike suffer until their last breath  
She wasn't like them, she was different and she wasn't going to become an experiment to pump full of drugs  
She needed to escape and find a place where Peter's little team couldn't find her  
She looked down at Allison's sleeping form again  
It really, _really_ wasn't personal  
Lydia grips the knife tighter and takes a deep breath, refusing to look at the way her hands are shaking or spend too much time lingering on the way her heart clenches at the thought of what's to come  
As Lydia brings the knife down, Allison's eyes shoot open, hand closing around her wrist, the next few moments are a blur as she feels herself being flipped over effortless. The next thing she knows is Allison is a steady weight above her, thighs firmly planted on either side of her stomach, brown eyes studying her carefully. Lydia was aware of the way Allison had deliberately positioned the hand still holding the knife out away from them as opposed to using it against Lydia (had she been in Allison's position, she knows she wouldn't have hesitated to bring the blade to her assailants throat) she expects to see anger in those eyes, fear even. Instead she sees understanding, like maybe, just maybe, Allison knows exactly what is going through Lydia's mind  
Maybe she does on some level, Allison _has_ managed to see through all of Lydia's tricks after all.  
Allison sighs above her and leans in close “You didn't think I’d be sleeping, did you?” she asks, her breath hot against Lydia's ear  
She should feel intimidated, she had underestimated Allison again and the girl had proven herself to potentially be deadly  
Maybe it's the way Allison is looking at her, on a second glance Lydia thinks maybe she can see hurt reflecting in those eyes “For the record,” Allison says as she climbs off with ease “Slash the throat, don't stab. It's quicker, more effective and a lot quieter” she adds as she moves across the room, moving her bags from the armchair and dropping into it  
Lydia lies there for a moment, the feeling of Allison on top of her still lingering as she tries to get her breathing under control, it's only then she registers the knife still in her hand “I'll try to keep that in mind” she mumbles, sitting up and watching Allison pull a book from her bag and begin to thumb through it, she waits, expecting Allison to speak up, to yell at her, to handcuff her to the radiator, to do... Well anything  
“You should sleep” Allison mutters, eyes not leaving the page “If you still want that shower in the morning you need to be up even earlier”  
Lydia stares at the girl in disbelief, places the knife on the bedside table and eventually lies back down, all of the fight suddenly gone from her  
She had seriously fucked up  
There was no way she was going to get away now  
Lydia rolled onto her side to hide her face from Allison in case she did something stupid like cry

  
  


It takes over an hour for Lydia to fall asleep, when she finally does, Allison puts down the book An hour of intense studying not helping her to decipher the markings at all  
Lydia had tried to kill her  
So... Derek was definitely going to be pissed and she couldn't not tell him. He was her leader and her brother, he'd probably find out some way or another anyway  
In the distance she heard gunshots, she wondered briefly which one of her friends had been the one to put a wolf down- judging by the sound of the shot, she was going to put her money on Erica and her trusty shotgun  
She looked back over to Lydia, mind racing with thoughts on what was so terrifying to the girl, that she was willing to kill to make an attempt to escape  
Allison had wanted to trust her as well.  
There was no way the girl was just a scientist. She wouldn't have reacted that way if she was. Her head span with possibilities until she felt a headache forming and eventually Allison decided to just asking the girl in the morning, Allison needed answers, needed to understand what had Lydia so scared, even if she hadn't outright said it. Allison wasn't blind, she knew false bravado when she saw it. Lydia had been playing games with her all day, hiding under masks to bend Allison to her will  
Allison runs a finger over her lips once more. Sighing, Allison reached for her jacket and wrapped it around herself, resigned to the fact that she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

 


	5. This is the road to ruin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hey loser" Erica greeted with a wide smile, she glances over Allison's shoulder as she hears the bathroom door close "You guys fuck yet?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title taken from "Alone Together" by Fall Out Boy

  
  
Allison let the arm fall from her face, grimacing at the light that hit her eyes. She groaned quietly as she slipped her legs from under her and pushed a hand through her hair, shooting a glance over to the girl in sound asleep in bed, Lydia had hardly moved since she had fallen asleep, had barely made a sound either other than something Allison could only describe as a kitten snore- it was annoyingly adorable and incredibly distracting  
It made Allison forget for a while that this girl had actually tried to kill her. Allison pushed herself to her feet, feeling her joints crack, she turns and pushes the curtain back and checking the position of the sun, Derek would want to be leaving soon. Allison turned back to Lydia, unsure how to best go about waking her  
Fuck it, she shrugged to herself as she walked towards the sleeping figure  
"Wake up" Allison gripped Lydia's shoulder and shook her, Lydia made a sound and rolled away, reaching up to bat her hand away "if you want a shower you should really get up" Allison walked back over to her bags as she heard Lydia sit up  
"Good morning to you too" Lydia muttered  
Allison rolled her eyes as she threw her book back into her bag, she still had no idea what to make of the symbols but she had still spent the majority of the night studying each page before just sitting back and letting the night pass  
"Like I said, you wanted to shower this morning" Allison straightened and letting herself lean against the dresser, keeping an eye on Lydia as she checks over her Colt "I told you we'd be getting up early"  
Lydia pulls herself from the bed, pausing when she catches sight of the knife still resting on the bedside table, Allison closed the barrel of her colt and holstered it, Lydia turned back to Allison, eyes studying her carefully  
"Well, you look like shit"  
Allison huffs and folds her arms "You look great too" she mumbles  
"What's the matter?" Lydia walks over to where her own bag rested and began to rummage through it "Couldn't sleep in that excuse of a chair?"  
"The chair was fine" Allison replied "I didn't sleep" she shrugged  
"Well a bed like this is made warmer for holding two" Lydia says casually, dragging her hand over the bed "you were more than welcome to join me" Lydia turns back to her with a wide smile "I don't bite, unless you ask nicely anyway" she added with a shrug. Allison sucks in a breath as her brain gives her a _very_ vivid image of the girl sinking her teeth in, right on the vein while her fingers inch further down and-  
"Funny" Allison replied, clearing her throat, she caught movement outside which was followed swiftly by a knock at the door "go shower, we'll probably be leaving within the hour"  
"You could always join me" Lydia suggested  
"Not happening" Allison dismissed easily as she pushed off from the dresser and headed towards the door, hoping for Stiles, Danny, Scott, anybody but-  
"Hey loser" Erica greeted with a wide smile, she glances over Allison's shoulder as she hears the bathroom door close "You guys fuck yet?"  
Allison groaned and pushed Erica away from the doorway, following her out into the cool morning air "No Reyes, we didn't"  
Erica frowns "Why not?"  
"Because that is a terrible idea and-" Allison trails off as she sees the sky, more specifically the black storm clouds looming dangerously in the distance "well, shit"  
Erica follows her eye and waves a hand "yeah we're going to have to push it today if we want to be able to outrun that and..." Erica grabs Allison's chin forcefully "Fuck me if I'm wrong Argent... But are your lips bruised?"  
Allison's eyes widened as she pushed Erica's hand away "No?" She replied hesitantly  
Erica cackled "Holy shit Argent, you got laid!"  
"No I didn't!"  
"Look at you! You totally did!"  
"She kissed me, that was it!" Allison shot back, glancing around  
"Oh my God, then what?"  
"And than she tried to kill me"  
Erica's laughter stopped immediately "wait... What?"  
"Yep"  
"So you made out with the hot maybe scientist girl only to have her try to kill you?" Erica laughed again "Shit Argent, you really know how to choose them"  
"Shut up" Allison hissed "I don't want Derek to know"  
"Don't want Derek to know what?"  
Allison let out an uncharacteristically high pitched yelp as the man seemed to materialise beside them, Erica only laughed harder. Derek raised an eye at her lips  
"Allison...."  
"I can explain?" Allison smiled sheepishly  
Derek raised an eyebrow and folded his arms "I'm listening"  
Allison looked towards Erica for help, only to be meet with more laughter, Allison sighed inwardly, how was this her life  
"I...uh" Allison scratched the back of her neck "so... There's a storm coming?" Allison waves at the sky vaguely, Derek just gives her a look that tells her that this isn't over  
"Boyd is convinced it's going to be bad, we're going to try and keep in front of it"  
"'Try' being the operative word here" Erica mumbled  
"Make sure the package is ready to go, we're meeting in the diner, ten minutes"  
"Yeah, yeah, we'll see you down there"  
"And _then_ I want to hear all about your explanation" Derek replied  
Allison groaned and let her head fall against the door frame  
"Speaking of" Erica purred, where is she?"  
"Shower"  
Erica nodded "Does she know you only get like five minutes of hot water before it turns to ice? Boyd had to learn the -" Erica is cut off by a shrill scream from the room, Allison didn't bother to hide her laughter "you better go back in there Argent, go dry her body with your body" Erica winked  
"I hate you" Allison called at the departing figure, she casts another look at the sky before stepping back into the room, closing the door behind her as Lydia storms out of the bathroom, clothes clinging to still damp skin, her bra clearly visible through her blouse  
"Didn't feel like telling me about the water problem?" Lydia frowns as she rubs at her hair with the corner of her towel  
Allison shrugs "consider it revenge for the whole trying to kill me thing"  
Lydia gave her a look and sat down on the edge of the bed   
"Touché" Lydia muttered, Allison felt Lydia's eyes on her as she picked up the weapon, twirling it around her fingers effortlessly "I could have easily tried it again you know, letting me keep it wasn't really a good idea"  
Allison looked over at Lydia and frowned "You couldn't hurt me while I had my eyes closed, believe me, you had _no_ chance of getting near me"  
"Yeah well," Lydia stands up swiftly and gives Allison a scrutinising once over, she steps closer and Allison watches and let's Lydia press two fingers underneath her chin and lifts it "your lip says otherwise, doesn't it Allison?"  
"It was a mistake" Allison replied, taking a step backwards "I told you we weren't going to talk about it" she pushes Lydia's hand away and Lydia let's her, but the girl doesn't move  
"I'm going to need some clarification as to _why_ it was a mistake"  
Allison sighs "Because you're just trying to make me lower my guard so you can try to escape" she says it easily and doesn't miss the shock that registers for a moment on Lydia's face, she quickly disguised it under a wide smile "just so you know, it's not going to work"  
Lydia makes a sound and steps closer to her "And what if I said it was because I like you?"  
"Then I'd call bullshit on you immediately" Allison doesn't back down, she holds Lydia's eye "You hate me"  
"But you _are_ intriguing"  
Allison smirks "Getting me in bed with you isn't going to reveal my tragic back story to you"  
Lydia hums and leans up and takes Allison's upper lip between her teeth and tugging until Allison's mouth opened with a gasp, Lydia pulls away and smiles up at Allison, she reaches up to trace Allison's lip with her thumb  
"Who said anything about a tragic back story?"  
She moves away from Allison then and walks over to where her bag still sat waiting. Allison blows a breath out and turns to the mirror on the dressing table  
"Oh damn" she mumbled, bringing a hand of her own up to her lips, eyes zoning in on the dark bruise on her lower lip  
Yeah, she was fucked

  
  
Lydia found it all to amusing how flustered Allison seemed to get around her, even if it the girl was able to hide most of it under her badass persona, and yeah, Allison was completely aware of Lydia's plans and she was clearly willing to overlook the whole attempted murder thing (a fact that had Lydia questioning Allison's position on the sanity spectrum) and that in itself had Lydia firmly intrigued into what could make Allison so unreasonably trustworthy  
Besides, she may as well see how far she can push Allison before she escapes.  
She follows Allison out of the room and her eyes fall on the black storm clouds approaching "I'm not sure if you're aware, but those don't normally mean sunshine and roses"  
Allison scoffed and didn't look back "You're very perceptive"  
Lydia doesn't even dignify her with a response as they step into the diner, eyes falling on where most of Allison's little team are gathered  
"Allison," Derek calls, moving over towards them and pausing to glare at Lydia for a moment "we need to talk"  
Lydia turns to Allison as she makes a sound of irritation  
"Is that really necessary?" Allison asks  
Derek folds his arms and stares pointedly at Allison's lip "I think you owe me an explanation"  
Allison smiles and gives Derek what Lydia can only interpret as her best grovelling expression "I fell?"  
Derek just gives Lydia a _look_ "Erica says otherwise" Lydia blinks, at least she knows the blonde girls name now  
Allison groans "fine, fine." She turns to Lydia "Go sit down, order breakfast, whatever" she waves a hand vaguely as though trying to dismiss Lydia.  
"I already ordered for everyone" Derek says as Lydia rolls her eyes and complied in walking away and moving past the group, Erica gives her a sly look as she goes. Once Lydia's sat down she focuses back on Allison and Derek, they've moved off to the corner and Allison is rubbing at the back of her neck and Lydia can't help but think she looks apologetic, hanging her head slightly as Derek talks to her, all it takes is for Allison to send one look in her direction for Lydia to understand the context of the conversation- so Derek knows then, honestly, Lydia isn't surprised though, she really did a number on Allison's lip last night. Lydia rests her chin in her hand and frowns as Derek's posture shifts, taking on a more aggressive stance and glaring over at Lydia, Allison's hands setting themselves on his shoulders, pulling his eyes away from Lydia to focus on Allison again, so Derek seems to know about the full events of the night then. Lydia's focus on the pair is broken when plates of food are set down on her table followed by two steaming mugs of coffee and glasses of orange juice, Lydia pokes at her pancakes with a frown and looks back up in time to see Derek press a kiss to top of Allison's head, Allison smile up at him before turning back towards her  
"I don't think your brother likes me much" Lydia says casually as Allison slides into the seat opposite, catching Derek glare at her once more as Allison seems more focused on the food between them  
“Not like the mysterious girl we're being forced to drive across the country who then tried to kill me while she thought I was sleeping? Yeah, weird how that works” Allison muttered as she took a long drink from her coffee   
Lydia smirked and leant forward on her arms “You're forgetting the part where you pinned me against the door and made out with me” Allison picked up a slice of bacon and bit in half, finally looking up at Lydia “He knows about the kiss, I know that much, how could he not?” She glances at the bruise on Allison's lip “But does he know that you kissed me back? That you took control and pushed me into the door? That you-”  
“You really get a kick out of this, don't you?” Allison asked with a smirk  
Lydia matched her expression and dipped her fingers into the syrup the waitress had left on the table, holding Allison's eye as she slipped the digits into her mouth, her smile only growing when she sees how Allison's grip tightens around the mug   
“I have no idea what you're talking about” Lydia replies  
Allison swallows and shifts in her seat, draping one arm over the back of the chair  
“Derek wants me to switch, he wants to you in his car”  
Lydia glances over at the man once more “Is that so?” she asked “Big brother doesn't like leaving his easily swayed little sister with the mysterious girl?”   
Allison yawned into her hand “I said no” she dismisses easily and Lydia actually finds herself at a loss for words, Allison seems to pick up on the silence and lifts her head from her breakfast “Don't read too much into it”  
Lydia reaches for her orange juice and slips on a mask of cool indifference “Well it's just,” Lydia pauses and holds Allison's eye as she sips her juice “One minute you're determined to make it clear that nothing between us is going to happen, but yet, an opportunity arises to get me out of your sight you decline it? You're just sending mixed signals now, not that I mind” Lydia shrugs   
“Well, I figured if you were willing to try and take a knife to me last night, then you're probably scared and Derek is about eighty percent likely to just handcuff you and throw you in the trunk and I felt like that probably wouldn't do anything to ease your worry”  
“How considerate”  
“Well, I try” Allison gestures to Lydia's coffee “You gonna drink that?” she asks as she grabs it “Enjoy breakfast”  
“Where are you going?” Lydia frowned as Allison moved from her seat   
“To figure out the plan for today, we have a storm to stay ahead of, remember?” she gestures vaguely as she walks towards her team

Lydia catches Allison yawning as she throws there bags into the trunk, she watches Allison check each holster for their relevant weapon “Are you going to be okay to drive?” Lydia asks  
Allison looks over to her as she makes her way to the drivers seat and laughs “Is that concern I hear in your voice?”  
Lydia huffs “For myself sure, you said you didn't sleep last night and it would be a great inconvenience if you were to crash the car I’m in” She climbs into her own seat and fastens her seatbelt, not missing the way Allison rolls her eyes  
“I'll be fine” she adjusts the mirror and frowns at the clouds looming ominously in the distance “I drank two cups of coffee, I’ve got this” Allison doesn't look at her as she starts the car, Lydia is silent as they leave the motel behind them   
“So do you have any music that _isn't_ angry and or depressing rock?” Lydia asks, opening the glove box and setting the worn cardboard on her lap to rummage through, Allison is quiet as she studies each tape, Lydia finds music by The Smiths, The Who, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Blue Oyster Cult and names she can't even make out because the labels have been worn off “Seriously Allison, where did you find this junk?”  
“I happen to like most of that junk” Allison mumbles “It's not like I can just go to a store and buy the latest tape, I take what I find”  
“Take what you find?” Lydia frowns “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”  
“It means that when we inevitably have to ransack abandoned cars or buildings I’ll take the tapes I find, or Derek and Scott will give me ones they find”  
“Scott?” Lydia turns to Allison “Is he one of your brothers?” Allison hesitates for a moment before nodding “Any reason why?” Lydia picks up another tape, realises it's Nirvana and promptly drops it back into the box, she's heard their music, she's not in the mood for distorted guitars and incomprehensible lyrics thank you, she looks back to Allison who seems to be debating with herself whether to reply or not, Lydia rolls her eyes “Come on Allison, I’m asking about _music,_ not Lykaion secrets- I doubt you know anything of value about them anyway so-”  
“There's a tape I’m looking for” Allison cuts her off, giving her an agitated look   
“Oh?”  
Allison purses her lips and reaches over, keeping her eyes on the road as she takes the box from Lydia's hands and balances it on her lap and searching through it, she held out a tape towards Lydia, not looking towards her “Here”  
Lydia raised an eyebrow and took the tape “The Breakfast Club soundtrack?”  
“Hey, you wanted happy, that's probably the best I've got”  
“I can probably give you better” Lydia remarked casually as she put the tape into the cassette player, Allison just let out a small, exasperated sigh. As the first track began to play she watched Allison check the mirror routinely, Lydia felt the need to make a comment, to remind Allison that yes, the clouds were still there, that yes they were right behind us and that yes, it was inevitable that they were going to get caught up in this storm and it was unlikely they were going to reach another motel before they did get hit. The girl must be having some form of caffeine overload if the way her knee was twitching and her hands were drumming a steady beat to match the heavy bass of the instrumental music playing through

“So” Lydia turned back to Allison when the tape finished, switching it out for one of the unlabelled tapes “What's the big deal with the mystery tape you're searching for? Who's the artist?”  
“Fleetwood Mac” Allison replied “There's this album... Called rumours”  
“And that's what you want?”  
“Yep” Allison settles into her seat, finally seeming to relax. Lydia nods to herself, she _thinks_ she's heard of the band before, maybe even heard a song or two but she can never be sure and well, Lydia isn't going to say anything unless she can be sure she's right  
“So what's the big deal with this tape?”  
“I just... Really liked that album” Allison shrugged  
Lydia could tell there was more to it than that, it was clear from the hesitation in her voice that there was another reason and before Lydia could even call Allison out on it the comm on the dash crackled to life  
 _“Uh... Guys? Does anybody happen to have any gas spare?”  
_ Lydia watched Allison frown and reach over to pause the music and flick a switch on the comm “None here Danny”  
 _“Shit”_ Danny replied  
 _“What's your meter looking like?”_ Lydia recognised the voice as Derek's  
Lydia heard faint muttering on from Danny's car _“Stiles thinks we can get like two hours worth, three tops”  
Boyd, how are you guys looking?_ ” Derek asked   
 _“Not much better on our end, we can probably push four though”_  
 _“Allison?”  
_ Allison stares at her steering wheel and Lydia tries to see whatever it is she's looking at, Allison mouths a string of numbers to herself before frowning “Probably three hours worth” Her frown turns to a grimace as the silence stretches on amongst the four cars  
 _“There's a station two hours away, a motel too but we have to divert from our route”_ Derek speaks up eventually   
“Lead the way” Allison sighs, she flicks off the switch and turns the music up again.

There's still a frown on her face after well over an hour of tense silence and honestly, Lydia's had enough of it  
“So, elephant in the car, what's the problem?”  
“Derek plans out our routes carefully, we.... Have a system, main roads only, we're more vulnerable when we go off of them”  
“Rebels?”  
Allison shakes her head “Worse, bandits. And wolves, obviously” Lydia raises an eyebrow and stares at Allison until the girl finally looks over to her “What?”  
“You think bandits and wolves are more dangerous than rebels?”  
“The thing about bandits is that they only have one goal in mind, to fuck everything up, they don't care who you are, they'll fight you, if you're lucky they'll just kill you and be done with it”  
“And if you're not lucky?” Lydia asked, Allison just gives her a look  
“If you're not lucky... And if they don't kill you straight away, well, you're probably going to wish they did”  
All Lydia can do is blink at Allison, she'd heard stories of bandits back at home in the compound but they had never been any worse than being robbed, maybe a little beaten and bruised but never anything more  
“Bandits and wolves have a lot in common, they work in groups and their only real goal is to kill... Except the wolves have more mercy” Allison finishes with a grim expression “They don't play with their food, they'll just go in for the kill”  
Lydia's hand moves to her ribs, a knee jerk reaction she would kick herself for if not for the fact Allison doesn't seem to have noticed, far too busy instead looking out of the window and just generally looking caught up in her memories, Lydia smooths out her blouse just in case, there's no need to bring up unnecessary subjects  
“Weird” Lydia mutters, clasping her hands in front of her, Allison makes a sound of confusion and turns to her, eyes studying Lydia carefully “That you wouldn't see the rebels as a threat, what with you working directly for Peter Hale- the guy they've sworn to put a stop to”  
“I didn't say I didn't see them as a threat....” Allison looks hesitant, the way one would when about to broach a taboo subject, Lydia had seen the look on many people back home, on scientists who would lean in close and whisper their theories on the omega virus only to never see them again, on people who dare question the system but ultimately pay for it, more often than not with their lives  
“But?” Lydia prompted  
Allison shook her head “It's nothing”  
“Come on” Lydia smirked and set her hand on Allison's knee, the brunette flinched visibly but to her credit, her grip stayed steady on the wheel “I'm not going to tell anyone”  
“Move your hand” Allison replied  
“Not until you tell me”  
Allison's jaw set and she turned her head, focusing on the road “It's just that there are bigger priorities than a few rebels”  
Lydia let her smile grow and made a split second decision to take advantage of the new circumstances “There's more to it than that though, isn't there?” Lydia made a point of dragging her fingers slowly along Allison's thigh, feeling the muscles tense underneath her dark jeans  
“Stop it”  
Lydia grinned “Make me” her triumph grew as Allison's grip tightened on the steering wheel “Keep talking”  
Allison closed her eyes for a moment longer than Lydia would like to deem safe considering she was in charge of the car- but hey, Lydia was wearing a seatbelt, If Allison _did_ crash (something Lydia was sure the girl would deny being possible) Lydia had a better chance of crawling from the wreckage  
But still, she'd rather try to avoid _that_ outcome, thank you.  
“Do you sympathise with the Vox, Allison?” Lydia asked, she moves her hand higher  
“Yes- kinda-” Allison pauses as Lydia lets her fingers brush along the waistline of Allison's jeans. She's about to dip her fingers underneath the denim when one of Allison's hands closes around Lydia's wrist and yanks, hard, pulling Lydia closer towards her. Allison turns so their noses are almost brushing “They want what we all want. Answers. They have the guts to cut the strings controlling us and fight against Peter and this stupid corporation to find out what we all want to know, they're the voice of the people even if they don't necessarily go about it the right way, but their hearts and intentions are in the right place.” Allison speaks low and fast, her breath hot against Lydia's lips and it'd be so easy, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't stolen a few glances at Allison's lips during her little speech, taking in the sight of the bruise she had left the night before. Allison lets go of her wrist and shoves Lydia away, turning back to the road “Is that a good enough answer for you?”  
It takes Lydia a moment to find her voice and when she does, the words that she speaks weren't what she had intended to say at all  
“Voice of the soul”  
Allison looks back over to her, confusion written clearly in her features “What?”  
“That.. That's what it means, 'Animus Vox' It means voice of the soul. It's Latin”  
Allison blows a puff of air from her lips “You speak Latin?”  
Lydia shrugs “I got bored”  
Allison laughs, much to her surprise “Of course you did” she shakes her head and runs a hand through her hair before she looks back to Lydia “I watched a Vox get tortured and then I watched his head get blown to pieces before we had to pick you up”  
“What? Why?”  
Allison shook her head “Blake wanted us to see, thought they had been tracking us or something”  
“She's a psychopath, no wonder Peter put her in charge” Lydia frowned, she had only formally met with Blake once, the way she had smiled and rallied off a list of orders to the other people in the room had done nothing to soothe her fears, a month later and here she was. Allison made a sound that she could only interpret as agreement “What was he doing so close to the compound?”  
Allison shrugged “The usual, asking who the leader was and that shit...But....” She frowns suddenly “He said he'd left something behind and that he needed to get it back”  
“What's that supposed to mean?”  
“The fuck if I know” Allison dismissed easily, she turns to Lydia “What about you?”  
“What about me?”  
“Do you sympathise with the Vox? Or did all the propaganda get to you?”  
“I'm a strong self thinking woman, I’m capable of making my own choices and drawing my own conclusions”  
Allison scoffs “Yeah, don't I know it”  
“What's that supposed to mean?” Lydia glared, Allison's gaze remained impassive  
“It means whatever the fuck you want it to mean” Allison checks the mirror and frowns, Lydia mirrors her and- shit, that storm is close. Lydia turns away to look out of her own window, it wasn't that she wasn't sympathetic to the rebels, but Allison was right to an extent, she'd spent her entire life within the compound, unlike Allison she had never met a Vox that wasn't on the verge of death, she'd never seen a bandit and she never had to compare the two, all she had to go by were the stories she overheard as she would roam the compound. That had been over a month ago though and the stories were no doubt fabricated and twisted until they were deemed suitable to be heard by the public anyway  
But it wasn't like she could let Allison know that she was right, that wouldn't do at all  


Allison would be lying if she said she didn't feel at least a little triumphant at Lydia's sudden silence, for the last half an hour the girl had been pleasantly silent and as an added bonus, hadn't tried to feel Allison up again.  
Like sure, there was a _tiny_ part of Allison that wanted to see what Lydia was going to do, if she was actually going to make a move- but then rational thinking kicked in and hello, she was driving and Derek would be _pissed_ and he'd probably lock Lydia in the trunk of his car and then threaten to damage her car just to prove a point and... Well, sacrificing her baby wasn't worth a quickie while she was _driving_ (She'll be damned if Lydia ruins her record and causes an accident)  
Allison's main problem now was that she was at war with herself, one side of her wanted to just ignore the girl beside her, drive her to Peter and be done with the entire thing. But then there was this other side that was completely fascinated as to _why_ they were transporting her in the first place, what made Lydia so special, what did Peter want with her? _Why_ did Lydia try to kill her in an attempt to escape?  
And then there was the little voice in the back of her head (that strangely sounded a lot like Erica) that made it it's goal to remind Allison that Lydia was in fact very nice to look at and sure, the persistent flirting was another ploy to lower Allison's guard, but she may as well play along.  
If Lydia wasn't sat beside her, Allison would probably bang her head against the steering wheel in order to silence the conflicting voices  
Still, Lydia's silence was a nice break-  
“What did this say?”  
Allison sighs and turns to Lydia, her eyes drop down to the cassette she's holding. Allison takes it from her and studies what remains of the label, she can just make out some hand drawn hearts, the words _'For the-”  
_ Allison frowns, she remembers this tape, she'd torn the label off herself  
“It said 'For the one that I love'” Allison hands to tape back “It's a mix tape”  
“Is it yours?”  
“No, I found it a few months back in an abandoned pick up truck”  
“Is it any good?” Lydia asked  
“If you want to listen to eighties love songs, then sure” Allison shrugged, there _had_ been some good songs on there, but every time she had listened to it she couldn't help but think of who the tape had belonged to, had a teenage boy made it for his girlfriend as a anniversary gift? A boy for his boyfriend? Girl for her girlfriend? There were so many combinations and Allison could never stop just there, she had to think about the couple _now._ Were they still alive? Were they together? The fact that she had found their truck in the middle of nowhere hadn't filled her with hope and after a few days the guilt of having taken the tape from the vehicle had started to get to her, so she'd torn of the label and shoved it into the bottom of the box. She hadn't thought about it since  
“Pass” Lydia dropped the tape into the box and with a long sigh, settled on Pink Floyd “I'm not dealing with people singing about love” the face she makes is a picture, she looks genuinely repulsed by the notion, she casts a glance over to Allison “Have you ever been in love?”  
The question throws Allison off for a moment, but it doesn't take much hesitation to find her words “No”  
“Never?”  
“I'm assuming you're taking out familial love”  
“Of course”  
“Then no. I've never been in love” Allison frowns as she follows Danny and Derek down a much narrower road, she can make out the gas station on the horizon, more specifically the cluster of trees directly opposite, it was a breeding ground for wolves and tactically speaking they could easily be ambushed by any lingering bandits. Without looking from the road she brings a hand down to her left hip, silently reassuring herself at her Colts presence at her side, she felt herself relax immediately- in a way, it was _almost_ like having Jackson with her still. Almost.  
At least when they stopped she could see how Danny was holding up  
“You've dated though, right?” Lydia asks  
“Not really much time for dating in a virus filled country” Allison mutters and she can see Lydia roll her eyes from the corner of her eye  
“Let me clarify, you've had sex, right?”  
Allison purses her lips “Why are so many people interested in my sex life?”  
“Well...” Lydia purred and Allison had to turn to see the expression on the girls face “I can't speak for anybody else, but it's a shame to let you go to waste, _somebody_ should get a taste of you” Allison has to look away, feeling a blush creeping up the back of her neck as she focuses intently on the road ahead, Lydia sighs, almost regretfully and continues “I just wish it could be me”  
“Have you ever been in love?” Allison blurts out and Lydia looks almost as shocked as Allison feels, Lydia recovers quickly though, hiding her shock with a scoff  
“Love is for the weak”  
Allison frowns, Boyd and Erica have been a couple almost as long as Allison has known them, Scott and Isaac- well, she doesn't know how long they've been an item but they seem happy enough and Jackson and Danny were great together, even if Jackson wasn't open about it. And now Allison could see something small and fragile building between Danny and Stiles, filling the void in Danny's heart that was torn away when Jackson was killed  
“What? You don't agree?”  
Allison considers her words carefully before she offers a shrug "I don't have any experience with the feeling. All I have is what I've read in books and seen from other people"  
Lydia nods, seemingly satisfied with the answer, a moment passes before she grins again"You never answered my question" Lydia sings  
"What?" Allison frowns  
"Have you ever had sex?"  
"Does it matter?"  
Lydia hums thoughtfully and taps her jaw "if you say no, which by the way, based on your hesitance to give a definitive answer, I would be willing to bet is the right answer," she pauses to smirk at Allison, to her credit she manages to keep a poker face "and _if_ it is a no, well, like I said, somebody should get a taste of you"  
"And what, you want to be that person?" Allison asks, clearing her throat  
Lydia flashes her a predatory grin "It _would_ be a missed opportunity"  
Allison turned away and scratched the back of her neck "And if I said that I have had sex?"  
"Well, then you're lying aren't you?" Lydia asks, she doesn't wait for Allison to respond before continuing "Besides, even if you have had sex, I would still be disappointed if I missed this chance"  
"There isn't a chance"  
"Right right, because this," Lydia gestures between them "isn't happening"  
Allison catches sight of an empty looking truck to her left, the wind shield appears smashed, she frowns and shifts her gaze back to Lydia "Exactly"  
Lydia turns away from her with a quiet laugh, shaking her head gently. Allison can't help but feel like Lydia is treating the entire thing like a game, like Allison is just a puzzle to beat, a toy to play with for the duration of the time they have together  
What really frustrates Allison is they way a part of her actually _enjoys_ the way Lydia keeps trying to pry into her life, Allison slows down as she sees Danny's break lights flash and she realises that they're right by the gas station and motel. Allison let's out a quiet breath and follows the car onto the property. She watches Derek get out of his car and walk over into the building. Lydia frowns, staring out at the area surrounding them, Allison slips a hand down to her pistol and flicks the safety off, she doesn't know if it's the combined elements of the oncoming storm, the surrounding trees, the abandoned car or just maybe it's just the overwhelming silence that the station seems to be giving off, but she feels on edge. Danny, Scott and Stiles climb from Danny's car as Boyd's car pulls up behind her  
"Do you plan on getting out any time soon?" Lydia asks  
Allison watches Stiles kick at a pump and study it carefully "yeah, yeah" Allison nods, Allison pushes open the door and feels the cool air bite through her jacket immediately, she watches Lydia fold her arms over her chest, hugging herself tight, Allison looks tip the clouds and her fears are confirmed, they're not going to avoid this storm now and unless Derek feels like risking it, they're stuck here until it passes.  
"Hey! Where are you going?" Allison frowns as Lydia walks away  
Lydia turns to her and raises an eyebrow, she gestures over to where Erica is walking "She's going to the bathroom, I need the bathroom, are you okay with letting me go or would you rather accompany me yourself?"  
If Allison were being critical, she'd want to keep Erica and Lydia as far apart from one a other as possible, there were no ways in which that combination would end well for Allison, but Derek still hasn't come out of the station and Allison feels on edge, so just for five minutes, Lydia can be someone else's problem "Yeah, whatever, don't take too long"  
Lydia hums and heads in the direction Erica has gone. Allison kicks at the ground and heads over to the building  
"Der?" She calls, looking around the room, the shelves have been ransacked and emptied long ago, now all that remains is an empty room, Derek comes out of what Allison can only assume is the spare room  
"There's nobody here"  
"Nobody?" Allison frowns "What if there isn't any gas?"  
Derek's expression is grim, it's so rare they let themselves get to this situation but there were so few gas stations around, its one of the reasons they keep so many canisters in their trunks "let's hope that Stiles has had some luck" he gives her a once over she follows him from the building and frowns "Where's the package?"   
"She has a name Derek"  
"Yeah, but we're not supposed to be getting attached" Stiles grins as they reach the group  
"I think what Stiles is trying to say is, if we start using her name we start seeing her as human and it's the first step to human attachment" Danny speaks up. He pauses to give Allison a wry smile "though I think making out with her is a good way to humanising her"  
Allison was going to kill Erica "enough with the psychoanalysing" she dismissed and turned to Stiles "is there gas?"  
Stiles beamed "We're in luck!"  
Allison matches his smile "That is the best news I've heard all day"  
"Allison" Derek's voice is firm and she turns towards him slowly, racking her mind for whatever it was she's done wrong this time to warrant that tone of voice "Where's the girl?"  
"She went with Erica to the bathroom"  
"Hate to break it to you Argent..." A voice sings and Allison curses any and every god out there as she turns toward blonde "But I'm right here" Erica waves a hand as she leans against Boyd  
"Oh...."  
"Yep"  
Allison pushes a hand through her hair and scans the land around them "well, shit"  
"You should find her" Derek all but growls  
"Oh fuck" Allison turns away from them  
"Should we help?" She hears Scott ask  
"Fuck that" Erica cackles "This is so much more fun"  
"I hate you all" Allison yells over her shoulder as she catches a flash of red turning around the corner "Hey!" She calls, breaking out into a sprint after her. Allison cursed herself, she was so fucking stupid, she should never have let Lydia out of her sight, of course she was going to make a break for it at the first opportunity, Allison caught up to the girl easily, she put it down to the fact that Lydia was wearing a skirt and flats and grabbed her wrist  
"Let me go Allison!" Lydia yelled  
"Or what? You'll try to stab me again?" Allison snapped "no, fuck that. Were you seriously going to try and run away again?"  
"Don't be so obtuse, of course I am!" Lydia pulls her arm away  
"Are you _kidding_ me?" Allison's voice raised several octaves "look at where we are!" She gestures around them "We're in the middle of nowhere! There's no fucking civilisation for miles, we're about to get caught in a fucking storm, there are wolves, bandits and rebels and you want to run away?! Are you stupid? You don't have a car or a weapon!"  
"Why do you care so much?!" Lydia snapped and Allison was caught off guard for a moment, this Lydia... She was so different from the Lydia that she had been sat in the care with just minutes ago, that Lydia had been flirty and irritating, but this Lydia was desperate and frantic  
Allison makes a sound of frustration and grabs Lydia, pulling her close before turning them and pushing Lydia into a wall, bracing her hands on either side of her face to keep the girl from moving  
"Because my job is to _protect_ you"  
"No" Lydia sneered "Your job is to transport me, you don't give a fuck if anything happens to me"  
"I gave my word that I would deliver you in one piece. I'm a girl of my word" Allison replied, how could Lydia not see this? "Its hard to to do that if you're dead. You won't last ten minutes out there without me to protect you" Lydia laughed, which only irritated Allison further "You need me otherwise you're as good as dead!"  
Lydia shook her head and laughed bitterly "I'm already dead" and then her head was moving forward and for the briefest of moments, Allison was convinced Lydia was about to kiss her again...  
Until reality kicked in and Allison realised what was happening too late and didn't have a chance to react as Lydia's forehead connected with her face.  
Allison flew backwards, her body connecting sharply with the ground, dirt and dust flying up around her, Allison bit back a groan and was aware of Erica cackling in the distance. She heard Lydia walk past her.  
"Mother-" Allison groaned and rolled onto her knees and watched red splash into the dirt, Allison brought a hand up to wipe her nose with the back of her hand "-fucker" she finished  
"Good work Argent!" Erica yelled, Allison turned to where the group had migrated to apparently watch the scene unfold  
"Fuck you" Allison called back "you guys seriously aren't going to help?" She looks pleadingly at Derek  
"Nope" came the chorused reply  
“This is your problem Allison” Derek replied “Fix it”  
“You guys really should be helping me on account of the whole 'this is our job' thing” Allison wiped at her nose again, grimacing at the blood she could taste  
“Please, how far is she gonna get?” Erica asked  
“I'm more concerned about wolves” Allison replied, turning away from them  
“Yell if you need help!” Isaac called  
“Assholes” Allison sighed, she broke into a light jog and followed Lydia's footprints until they disappeared into the tree line.   
  


Allison froze the moment her foot hit the soft pine needles, her left leg felt considerably lighter, Allison glanced down to her holster only to have her fears confirmed  
Her Colt was gone  
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Allison hissed. She ignored the blood dripping from her chin and onto her shirt in favour of pulling her pistol from it's holster and keeping a finger on the trigger.  
She moved through the trees quickly and silently, slipping into hunter mode and keeping her ears attuned to her surroundings.  
Allison could feel eyes on her, watching, waiting  
She just couldn't catch a fucking break   
“Good virus infested wolves” she whispered quietly “don't eat the very annoyed human, I’m just looking for another human- at least I think she's human, she could easily be a she devil from the pits of hell for all I know but my point still stands....” Allison heard movement to her left and poised ready for attack “She's about so high,” Allison holds one hand up vaguely around her shoulder “has red hair and is annoyingly attractive”   
She also has her Colt and is generally being a pain in the ass, but Allison omits that from her commentary. She keeps moving, hoping that the smell of her blood isn't going to entice the wolves into attacking, she can't place their locations exactly, but she knows they're near, she can _feel_ them watching her  
Lydia is her priority  
Get Lydia back  
Then maybe handcuff her so she doesn't escape  
Allison curses to herself for the mental image that comes to mind, more specifically she curses the very Erica like laughter in the darkest depths of her thoughts.   
Allison shook the thoughts away as she stepped into a clearing, freezing when she catches movement to her right. Allison spins to the figure  
"Whoa" Allison holstered her pistol and held her hands up "Don't fire"  
"I know how to" Lydia pulled the hammer down and held the revolver out, Allison thought about telling her to hold it in both of her hands, that the recoil would hurt like fuck if she fired it like that  
But then again she didn't particularly feel like dying today so she kept her mouth shut  
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't do it"  
"One? I can literally think of like five different reasons why it's a _terrible_ idea"  
"Not doing yourself any favours"  
Allison could feel blood against her lips, dripping from her chin and onto her shirt and she couldn't keep ruining these shirts damn it, she resisted the urge to wipe at it, instead focusing on the gun being pointed at her "Look," Allison sighed "I get it, you're fucking terrified, you don't know what's going on, why we're taking you and I’m sorry but I don't know either, but I have a job to do and I need to protect you, so please, put the gun down"  
"You're taking me to my death"  
"You don't know that-" Allison cut herself off, straining to her a distant growl "Lydia, give me the gun"  
Lydia looked at Allison as though she had just been struck "What?"  
"Give me the fucking gun" Allison snapped, tuning herself into the quickly approaching growls "There are fucking wolves coming" Allison took a few steps forward, so much for them leaving her be  
"I don't believe you" Lydia's finger tightened on the trigger  
Allison groaned, she could hear twigs snapping and grabbed her own pistol from the holster, she launched herself to the right as Lydia's grip tightened on the trigger, the revolver flying out of her grip as the girl screamed in shock, maybe it was pain, Allison didn't particularly care at that moment because the bullet exploded into the tree beside her, causing a sharp pain in her ear and to be hit with shards of bark, Allison flicked the safety from her pistol and started towards Lydia  
"Lydia, stay behind me for fucks sake" Allison snapped, she had barely gotten the words out of her mouth when the first wolf broke through, Allison blinked through the pain and fired off two shots, using one arm to keep Lydia behind her, she tried to ignore the nails digging into her skin as Allison span them both around, firing another at a second and then a third wolf, forcing herself to focus on them instead of the throbbing in her head, the girl gripping at her

"Holy shit" Lydia whispered, surrounded now by oozing corpses. Allison felt nauseous, holding one hand up to her left ear and trying to block out the ringing  
“And that's why you don't fucking run away” Allison replied, her voice sounding distant, she could still feel Lydia's hands clutching her arms “I can hardly hear a damn thing” she pulled away from Lydia and ignored the falter in her balance as she reaches down to pick up her Colt, dusting off some scattered dirt  
“...Are you okay?” Lydia asks  
“Never better” Allison replies, she turns to Lydia who looks shockingly pale “Are you going to run again or will you fucking listen to me and come with me back to the station?” a loud rumble of thunder boomed overhead and almost immediately the heavens opened sending a downpour of rain in it's wake “I mean, If you feel like taking your chances in this! Because I’m done chasing after you!” Allison yelled over the rain. Lydia held her gaze for a moment and looked genuinely conflicted as she hugged herself, the rain soaking her clothes, Allison shook her head and turned away, intent on going back to her team, with or without Lydia, honestly she just needed to lie down and actually fucking sleep for a while, fuck Peter, fuck Lydia, fuck all of this  
Allison walked slowly, keeping her Colt in her hand and ready to fire. She paused against a tree to try and force back the black spots peppering her vision and wipe yet more blood from her nose. When she looked up, Lydia was stood beside her, ringlets of hair stuck to her face, she looks like she had last night, small, helpless and scared  
She was still mad at Lydia, Allison could barely hear a thing and her nose still hadn't stopped bleeding...  
But she can't stop the way every instinct rocketed into the need to protect her. She doesn't want to think about it  
“Let's go” Allison pushes off of the tree, grimacing at the way the landscape almost seems to swim around her- she realises with a start that she probably has a concussion, to her surprise, Lydia's hand actually reaches out to steady her “before they actually start to give a shit and send a search party”  
"Allison-"  
Allison held a hand up "No, I don't want to hear it, I'm not in the mood for your games, my head is pounding, I'm half deaf, I'm bleeding, I'm soaked and it's fucking cold." She twists her head to look at Lydia, unable to decipher the expression on Lydia's face, if she didn't know better, Allison would say Lydia looked almost guilty  
Allison scoffed to herself, as if.

  
Lydia wasn't sure what was going on, she couldn't decipher her feelings and that in itself was enough to throw Lydia off, the plan had been impulsive and yeah, she hadn't had time to plan it all out, it was a sloppy and all together pathetic attempt  
But she had seen that abandoned car, the trees provided a good cover and Allison and get little team were sufficiently distracted  
It could have worked, it really could have worked  
Lydia hugged herself tighter and ignored the throbbing in her wrist as she looked over to Allison, her nose was still bleeding, or maybe it was just the effect of the rain  
Allison looked angry, tired, disappointed  
Lydia actually thinks she feels guilty, not about trying to escape, no, Lydia couldn't feel guilty about trying to be free  
But she had hurt Allison and Lydia wants to laugh because just the night before Lydia hardly had any reservations about taking a knife to the girl  
When Lydia had met Allison all she had seen was a puppy whose bark was bigger than her bite, the classic muscle car with the rock music, the aviator shades coupled with the leather jackets. It all felt like a carefully constructed image, that Allison was trying to make herself seem unapproachable and dangerous, even her quick reflexes last night hadn't even made Lydia see Allison any differently, if anything it had just made Allison more of a mystery  
Now she was like a different person all together, the way she had moved with such ease, arm curling around Lydia and _protecting_ her as she fired shot after shot  
Had Lydia not been fucking terrified, she probably wouldn't have been able to take her eyes off of the girl  
Lydia stumbles over a root, Allison's arm flying out to steady her  
"Thank you" Lydia sniffs  
Allison doesn't reply, instead, she lowers her arm and walks ahead, through her soaked shirt Lydia can clearly see the tension in her shoulders, the muscles rolling down her back, Lydia wants to touch, to feel the muscles under her skin, to drag her nails along her shoulders, to leave lip shaped bruises along her shoulder and _bite  
_ Lydia stands by what she had said, to not to get to touch Allison would be a waste indeed. She laughed humourlessly, after this, her chances of escape had dwindled to non-existent and it was equally unlikely that Allison would go anywhere near her after this.  
At least Lydia enjoyed a challenge  
Allison's little team were nowhere to be found when they got back to the station, Allison didn't bat an eyelid as she made her way over to her car, unlocking it swiftly and grabbing her jacket from the back seat before moving to the trunk and grabbing Lydia's bag of clothes and throwing it at her and then turning back to grab her own  
Lydia clutched her bag close to her chest, shivering from the cold and unsure as to what exactly is going on. She follows Allison dutifully into the motel lobby  
"Derek?" Allison calls  
A moment later the man appeared from the back room, she watches his eyes zero in on Allison's face before turning to her, rage registering in his eyes  
"Have you found anyone yet?" Allison pulls his attention away from Lydia  
"No. There's nobody here" Derek frowns as Allison wipes at her nose again and it's only now Lydia registers the streak of blood along her arm  
"Great" Allison sighs "can I get a room key? I need a shower and clean clothes"  
"Yeah, we couldn't find any" Danny comes out of the back room "Holy shit, Allison, you look like shit"  
"Please, say it louder, I _really_ want Erica to hear" Allison tightens her grip on her bag and turns away  
"Where are you going?" Derek asks  
"I told you, I need a shower and clean clothes"  
"But all the rooms are locked and we don't have any keys" Derek frowns  
"Yeah, well, funnily enough Derek, I know of a key I like to refer to as 'brute force'. I'm getting a shower" Allison says, determination written in her face  
Lydia moves to follow her but freezes when she feels Derek grab her arm  
"What happened?" He demanded, Lydia yanked her arm away forcefully  
"She caught up to me, she saved me from wolves. The end"  
Derek glares at her and Lydia thinks he might genuinely lock her in the trunk of his car  
"Derek, maybe we should let her get changed, yeah?" Danny suggested  
Derek hesitated for a long moment "Fine." He didn't have to say anything else, the threat was clear in his voice, not as the leader of the team holding her captive, but that of a protective big brother who had watched his sister get hurt. It was that side of the man Lydia did fear  
Lydia held his eye for a moment longer and mustered what remained of her confidence to match his glare before turning on her heel with a flourish and leaving the room.

It took a few minutes and more time than Lydia appreciates to find the room Allison had occupied and she finds herself cursing silently for missing the not so subtle boot shaped hole in the door, the splinters of wood on the ground, Lydia stares at the door for a moment before pushing the door open, she's hit with a horrific smell as she steps into the darkened room and Lydia grimaces, she can't place it, has never smelt anything like it before. She spots Allison's bag on the bed and finally registers the shower running. Lydia pushes her hand through her soaked hair, frowning as her fingers get caught in a tangle, Lydia flicks the light switch, sighing when nothing happens, Lydia drops her bag and looks up when she hears the shower stop, Lydia walks over to the curtains and yanking them open bringing some much needed light to the room. Lydia frowns at the dead flies that litter the windowsill  
Shrugging it off she turned back towards the bed and froze  
Blood splattered the wall directly opposite, bloodied hand prints smeared across the beige paint  
Lydia forced herself to swallow the bile in her throat as she took slow steps around the bed  
She screamed when her eyes landed on the half mutilated face staring back up at her, skin black with rot, maggots crawling from her mouth  
“Lydia?!” Allison called, “Lydia what-” Lydia couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene but was aware of Allison crossing the room “Oh shit, Lydia don't look. Lydia, look away” Allison pulled at Lydia and stepped in front of her, wrapping her arms around her and forcefully turning her away from the scene  
Lydia could hardly breathe, all she could smell was the body and she curses herself for not being able to place it sooner  
“Allison!” Danny and Stiles crashed into the room, Lydia clings onto Allison, her hands meeting bare skin  
“We heard screaming” Danny says. Lydia looks over to him and watches Stiles walk to where the body lay  
“Stiles, don't!” Allison warned  
“What? Why-” Stiles takes one look and practically leaps across the room “Holy shit she's dead, damn she is _dead_ ”  
“Stiles, get Lydia out of here” Allison pushes Lydia away and it's only then Lydia realises she's topless save for a dark bra, she can't even take a moment to enjoy the sight as he leads her back out into the rain, at least having the sense to grab her bag on their way out  
“Allison,” She hears Danny say “I know you have great abs, but can you put a shirt on please?”  
“Shit... Sorry”

Lydia looks up at a pale Stiles, he looks on the verge of throwing up and if the way her stomach is twisting violently, she assumes she doesn't look much better  
“What happened?” Derek asks as they reach the reception area, the remaining members eyeing Lydia carefully  
“This one found a body in the room Allison was showering in” Stiles gestures to Lydia “Alli and Danny are checking it out”  
“Great, we're in a murder motel” Erica sighed  
Derek pulled out his gun and got to his feet “Scott, Stiles, you stay here, watch the cars, watch _her_ ” Derek glares at Lydia “Everyone else, on me”  
Lydia stepped to the side to allow Derek and his team pass until only Scott and Stiles remained  
“So,” Lydia eyes each boy carefully, Scott is giving her a somewhat reassuring smile while Stiles seems caught between a glare and not throwing up, admittedly it's taking a lot of focus on her part not to think about the body “you two are Allison's brothers-”  
“ _adoptive_ brothers” Stiles corrects “And yes. We are”  
“So Derek has to look after three adopted siblings on this team?”  
“Derek is Alli's brother, not ours” Scott replied  
“Don't get us wrong, we love Derek”  
“But he's not our brother”   
“Right” Lydia frowned “Confusing”   
Scott and Stiles shrug “Conventional families kinda died with the whole normal civilisation thing” Stiles says and Scott elbows him before he can have a chance to continue  
“You should get out of those clothes otherwise you'll get sick” Scott suggests helpfully and Lydia can't help but feel like he's just trying to get rid of her before Stiles can give up any more information “You can go in there” Scott gestures to the back room “We'll wait out here” 

  
  
"Shit, Argent, how did you not notice this chick?" Erica raises an eyebrow as Allison pulls a clean shirt from her bag  
"Look," Allison paused as she pulled the shirt down over her body "I kicked the door open, threw the bag down and went into the bathroom, it was dark and I was bleeding, I was willing to ignore a vague smell in favour of warm water" The water hadn't even been warm, but at least she wasn't covered in her own blood any more  
"You still are bleeding, a little bit anyway" Erica reached out to prod at Allison's nose "shit, she really did a number on you"  
Allison slapped Erica's hand away with a glare "Can we focus please? There's a corpse here"  
"We've counted five others" Derek says, stepping into the room and shaking the rain from his hair, he walks around to stop by Allison and look down at the woman  
"Wolf attack?" Erica suggested  
Allison shook her head "six bodies in locked rooms? No, no way it was wolves" Beside her Derek mumbled something "What?" Allison turned to him with a frown "wait, hang on, stand on the other side of me" Allison grabbed Derek's arm and forcefully switched their places  
"I said, here" Derek holds out a torch, even with the curtains being fully drawn, the location of the body and the storm outside left them with little light "What happened?" Derek eyes Allison carefully as she took the torch from him  
"She may have stolen my Colt when she head butted me and then shot at me" Allison dismissed with a wave as she stepped forward, flicking on the torch. The ringing in her ears had faded to an persistent hum, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up "don't glare Derek, I'm fine, it'll pass in a few hours" Allison crouches low and tries to block the smell from her senses, shining the torch over the woman's skin  
"She's dangerous Allison"  
"She's _scared_ " Allison frowns "is it me or do these bite marks look-"  
"Human" Erica crouches beside her "shit"  
"People are at their most dangerous when they're scared"  
"Derek, can we focus please?" Allison sighs, pushing a hand through her damp hair  
"What are we thinking Argent?" Erica looks over the body once more with a grimace  
"I'm thinking a rabid?" Allison suggests, following Erica and moving away from the body "but to get to six people?"  
"It would have to be a group" Derek frowns  
"A group of rabids?" Erica goes wide eyed for a moment "is that possible?"  
"To hell if I know" Allison sighs, she turns to Derek "What's the plan?"  
"Re-con in the reception, we'll delegate tasks" Derek flashes Allison a look and turns back out into the rain  
Erica elbows Allison sharply in the ribs "guess you'll be stuck on babysitting eh, Argent"  
"I like you better when you're in detective mode" Allison pushes her away and follows Derek  
"I'm just saying, she kisses you and tries to kill you? You really know how to pick them"  
"I haven't 'picked' her" Allison rolled her eyes "There's nothing between us, she's just playing a game to keep herself occupied while she tries to escape"  
"Well.... Why don't you just play the game? Give her a taste of her own medicine" Erica hesitated and a wide grin stretched over her face "or you could just give her a taste, whatever works"  
"I hate you"  
"That's a lie and you know it" Erica winked  
Allison had to stifle another roll of the eyes as they stepped into the reception where the rest of her team are gathered, though she notices a distinct lack of red hair  
"Where is-"  
"Back room" Stiles waves a hand towards the closed door behind him "and no, there's no other way out before you ask" he leans forward on the counter, beside her, Erica laughs before walking over to the worn, mustard coloured sofa and dropping down beside Scott and Isaac  
"So did you guys actually do anything while I was running around shooting wolves or did you just sit around twirling your thumbs?" Allison asked, her words coming out sharper than intended but honestly, she felt pretty justified in her anger, they had all just sat back and let her run into unknown territory to chase after Lydia, she wasn't mad at Lydia, not entirely anyway- she had shot at her after all, she was mad that Lydia had been so reckless but she could understand Lydia's actions and she had plans on getting a moment alone with the girl to talk about it  
But this was her team, her family and they had let her run head first into danger alone and for what reason? To teach her a lesson?  
"We filled up all of the cars" Derek folds his arms and leans back against the cork noticeboard, Allison frowns at the red flyer next to his head "we also filled up all of the canisters-"  
"Except the ones in your car so you're gonna have to do that when this storm has passed" Boyd interrupts  
Derek nods "Scott also found some more canisters while he, Erica and Isaac searched the station"  
"Me and Danny found a generator, but it needs some work before we can get it operational" Stiles shrugged  
"It looks like it's wired up to the power of this place and the fence outside"  
"The fence which is so torn to pieces it may as well not exist" Erica muttered  
"So you've all been busy" Allison remarked casually, Derek narrowed his eyes at her "that's good, so now what?"  
"If one of you two could come and check out the generator that'd be great, we don't have much light left to work with" Stiles looked between Allison and Derek  
"I'll take that" Allison offered immediately, she turned to Derek "you should check out the fence, see if you can patch it up"  
"Are we keeping the wolves out? Or are we keeping _her_ in" Derek nodded to the closed door  
"Lydia's not going to try it again Der" Allison signed  
Derek gives Allison a long, disapproving look before he eventually replies "How can you be sure?"  
Allison purses her lips "I can't" she sighs  
"Anyway..." Scott clears his throat "the bodies, what do we do with them?"  
"Yeah, the smell might draw wolves to us" Isaac agrees  
"We can't do anything with them now, the most we can do is block the doors up" Boyd speaks up "Me and Erica can handle that"  
"We can?"  
"We will"  
Erica groans "that means going out in the rain. But fine"  
"Okay, next problem" Allison pushes from the wall "Sleeping arrangements, the rooms are clearly out of the option"  
"What's wrong with using here and the back room?" Stiles frowned  
"A group of us all being contained in a small environment with only one exit? Doesn't sit well with me"  
"I agree, we need a more open space"  
"The gas station?" Scott suggested "we move the shelves out of the way, we can block up the windows and give ourselves more cover, especially if this gets worse" Scott gestures to the downpour outside  
"Which it will no doubt" Isaac muttered  
"Okay, so we all know what we're doing?" Derek looked between, everybody nodded   
"Where's this generator then?" Allison asks  
"Storeroom of the station, the wires run under ground"  
Allison nods as the rest of the group disperse slowly to go about their jobs, she looks at the closed door "Can she come with us?"  
"Is that wise?" Danny asks  
Allison shrugs "probably not" she steps behind the counter "but I don't particularly want to leave her alone"  
Stiles and Danny share a look and Allison turns away to pull the door open and steps into the room, Lydia lifts her head as Allison closes the door behind her and leans against it. She notices that Lydia's in clean clothes, a skirt and blouse again, Lydia's eyes scan over her  
"You okay?" Allison asks  
Lydia nods, tries and fails at making herself seem full of confidence, but Allison can tell she looks shaken, knows that was probably the first time she had ever seen a body, and Lydia seemed to be handling it pretty well, Stiles had seen countless bodies and had been the reason behind a majority of them, yet more often or not, when the adrenaline had worn off and the danger was gone, Scott was always there to rub his back and calm him down  
"I need to fix a generator"  
"I suppose I'll be handcuffed to the chair and locked in here?"  
"Actually... I was going to say I need you to come with me" Allison replied, folding her arms carefully  
Lydia raises an eyebrow "Is that a good idea?"  
"Why do people keep saying that?" Allison sighed, Lydia flinches as Allison registers the sound of a lightning strike nearby "look, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here"  
"Why?" Lydia asked  
"Because I know you only hurt me because you want to escape, it's nothing personal, I'm keeping faith that trying to kill me is only a last resort matter"  
Lydia smiles at that, something small and shockingly beautiful "that could be the death of you"  
"Well, it nearly was, twice" Allison points out "look, Lydia, I know you don't like this, that you're going to Lykaion and that you're scared and I don't know why, I don't know why you're scared and I don't know what Peter wants with you" Allison steps closer and crouches down in front of Lydia "But my hands are tied, I've got to bring you to him and I can't go back on that, me and my team, we can't let you go-"  
"Because you gave him your word" Lydia interrupts  
"Yeah" Allison nods, "but you know what? I'm not going to let you get hurt. My job is more than just transporting you, it's also to keep you safe, I'm giving you my word that I'll keep you safe Lydia"  
Lydia holds her gaze for a moment "you keep doing that"  
"Doing what?"  
"Calling me Lydia"  
Allison freezes, well, that explains the looks everyone gave her  
Lydia gives her another look and Allison panics that she's about to either kiss her or head butt her again, it doesn't help that she doesn't know which one she would prefer. "Come on" Lydia pushes Allison back so she can stand up "before they think I've killed you or fucked you"  
Allison rolls her eyes, Erica's words from earlier echoing in her mind. Play the game, she can do that "can't say I've ever been courted this way before"  
Lydia turns back to her and smirks, finally looking more like herself "I'm fairly sure you can't say you've been courted full stop" Allison laughs and follows Lydia to the door, shaking her head as she goes, Lydia turns just as they reach the door "so now you call me by my name, will you tell me your last name?"  
Allison how strong, not letting the close proximity or the intensity in Lydia's eyes deter her "That depends, will you tell me why Peter wants you?"  
Lydia grins and opens the door, Allison sees Stiles and Danny watching the door apprehensively  
"Everything okay?" Stiles looks to Allison as Lydia moves through the room  
"Yeah, how's the storm?" Allison asked  
"Shit" Danny frowned "Have you not been hearing the lightning?"  
Allison waved a dismissive hand, eyeing the downpour with a sigh "I don't have enough clothes to keep getting wet"  
"You could always take them off" Lydia suggested quietly, moving over to study the notice board  
"Please don't" Stiles winced "I don't need that image in my mind"  
"Rude"  
"Guys?" Danny cleared his throat "it's getting dark"  
"Right, right" Allison clapped her hands together "I'm focused" she moved through the reception, stopping at Lydia's side to read the flyer she seems focused on, it was a typical recruitment poster, talking about taking down Lykaion, how the rebels needed more people to fight for the truth, the fact that there was no mention of Leto gave Allison reason to believe that this was one of the original propaganda posters, before the rebels officially became the Animus Vox. The bold black letters standing out starkly against the paper only confirmed it. It had been a phrase Allison had heard countless times for the first few years and was among the only Latin she knew;

 

 

_**Mors Omnibus Argent's** _

 

 

“Mors Omnibus” Allison repeated slowly  
“Death to all” Lydia translated “It's Latin  
Allison hummed “It's a rebel poster, red has always been their colour”  
“Well...” Lydia scratched her head “If there's anything this country can unite over it's the collective hatred of the Argent family”  
Alison forced herself to laugh “I guess so”  
“At least they're all dead” Lydia shrugged, turning away from the flyer “But things would have been so much different if they hadn't of turned out to be the traitors they were”  
Allison stared at the words for a moment longer “Yeah” Allison sighed, glancing over at Danny and Stiles “I'm gonna get my toolbox, can you take Lydia with you guys?”  
“Yeah, no problem” Danny offered a small smile  
  


Lydia tried to conceal the shiver that ran through her body, hugging her arms tighter against herself, the concrete floor beneath her didn't help much, opposite her, Danny looked up from the various gadgets her was tinkering with, a small torch delicately hanging from his teeth, in one hand he was holding a small screwdriver, in the other a silver comms device, at least half a dozen more scattered around his feet, Lydia wondered where the boy had gotten them from, they were military issue only  
Behind him, Allison was crouched over the generator, Stiles hovering holding a large torch, she could just make out Allison's tight lipped expression as Stiles' lips moved with such speed she could barely recognise any words, how Allison could work, Lydia had no idea, she seemed so intensely focused, hands moving quickly and switching out tools from the box beside her with ease  
"What are you doing?" Lydia asked, turning her attention back to Danny  
Danny glanced at her for a moment before letting the torch fall from his mouth and holding it out towards her, Lydia frowned as she took it, pausing only to wipe it on the corner of her skirt before holding it up for him  
"I'm trying to calibrate these comms so they all operate on the same wavelength, the fact that it's hands free is a big step up" Danny replies as he continues to work, a step up indeed, Lydia's seen what they've had to work with up until now and she's completely convinced that their previous devices were almost as old as Allison's car  
"Why do you have eight?" Lydia asked as she counts the devices on the ground between them and the one in her hand  
Danny stares at her "one for each member of the team" he says  
Lydia frowns and runs over a mental check-list in her mind, she hears the generator roar to life and Stiles let's out a trips triumphant whoop and grab Allison's shoulders, Allison grins up at him and Lydia turns back to Danny "But there aren't eight people in your team, there's seven, unless you've started to see me as part of your team, in which case I'm honoured but-"  
"What are you talking about? There's eight of us"  
“No, there's seven of you”  
Danny's face morphed into confusion "but-" before he could continue Stiles was at his side with a steady hand on his shoulder and realisation seemed to dawn on him "oh, yeah of course, seven of us" his shoulders fell as Stiles took a seat beside him, Allison approaching a moment later, cleaning her hands on a rag and sitting on the other side of him. Lydia watches the three of them carefully and doesn't miss the sadness between Allison and Danny, and Lydia can't help but feel she's stepped into something fragile and private as Allison ducks her head onto Danny's shoulder, for a moment Lydia considers leaving the room but she doesn't think it'll be allowed, she doesn't want to disturb the moment  
Eventually, Danny clears his throat and forces a smile though Lydia can tell his eyes seem shiny as Allison breaks away "So," he turns to Allison "everything sorted?"  
Allison fidgets with the rag in her hand "long story short... No"  
Danny sighed "I'm not even surprised, what's wrong with it?"  
"Okay so I managed to get it working, but it's like someone _tore_ it apart" Allison frowns "basically we can either have power and heating or we can have what remains of the fence"  
"Oh, fantastic" Danny drawled "so we get to choose between pneumonia or eaten alive?"  
"Pretty much, yeah" Allison nods  
"We really live a life of luxury" Stiles muttered "looks like we're in for a fun night”  
“I'll go tell Derek” Danny braced his hand on Allison and Stiles' shoulders and pushed himself to his feet  
“Are you sure?” Allison asked “I can go if you want”  
“I think we all know that's not a good idea” Danny smiled “You guys help with Scott and Isaac or something”

“Or we could just hide in here and pretend to be working so we don't have to move heavy objects” Stiles whispered as soon as Danny was out of the room  
“I like that plan” Allison fell against Stiles, letting her head fall into his lap  
“You okay there Alli?” Stiles frowned  
“Headache”  
“Oh”  
“It's fine” Allison waved a hand before she frowned suddenly “that flyer was a Vox flyer”  
“Yeah?” Stiles mirrored Allison's expression “So?”  
“So?” Allison sat up “When do you ever see Vox flyers now? We're in a motel off of the main route and there's a city what? Three hours down the east road?”  
Stiles made a sound of realisation “It's a Vox base!”  
“I'm sorry, a what?” Lydia asked, Stiles and Allison turned to her, both wearing an expression that made Lydia feel as though they had forgotten her presence  
“Most motel owners down give a shit whose side you're on as long as you don't go shooting up their property, so a lot of them will give rebels a place to stay, but they still have to be careful because if a military convoy find them they can be executed for assisting an enemy of the state” Allison explained “the fact that they displayed a pro vox flyer in their reception suggests that maybe the people who ran this place _were_ rebels”  
“We should spend some time in the morning searching this place, who knows what we might find” Stiles replied “We could find out who Leto is!”  
“Don't get your hopes up Stiles” Allison muttered “But there still might be valuable stuff, it would be stupid to miss this opportunity” Allison turns to Lydia “Now I’m interested in that car we saw”  
“Car?” Stiles asked  
“Yeah, saw it as we drove here, Lydia was going to try and get to it and use it to escape” Allison shrugged  
Stiles frowned at Lydia “Do you even know how to hot wire a car?”  
“I would have figured it out....” Lydia muttered, Allison flashed her a vaguely patronising smile  
“The wind shield was smashed” Allison folded her hands into her lap “it's near a Vox motel and there are what? Six partially eaten corpses? Something interesting happened here”  
“Eaten?” Lydia asked “As in wolves?”  
Allison shook her head “Bite marks are human” Lydia blanched as the woman face flashed in her mind once more  
“There have been rumours that rabids that aren't executed band together” Stiles replied quietly “they're essentially like zombies, only motivation is to eat”  
“You've seen them?” Lydia asked  
“We've dealt with rabids before, but never in a group, I’m still not sure I believe the stories” Allison shrugged  
“You don't believe in rabid packs?”  
“I don't believe that a rabid lives for long after turning, they bleed from their ears and nose Stiles, the blood vessels in their eyes burst, how can they live for long from that?”  
“True” Stiles agreed, he turned to Lydia “What do you think? You're sciency”  
“That's not a word” Lydia pointed out  
“It is in this group” Allison murmured  
“And I don't know, I never actually worked with rabids, I have no idea what happens to them once they've turned”  
“Reassuring” Allison rolled her eyes as she got to her feet “all of this aside, I think it's time we start getting ready to turn in for the night” she turns to Stiles “You know we're going to have to take it in turn to patrol”  
Stiles groaned “and I bet there aren't any clean blankets or anything around, god if I have to sleep huddled up in one of my hoodies I’m going to cry.” Stiles reluctantly got to his feet and Lydia followed them up “Seriously Allison, why don't we own sleeping bags? It just seems like a really big fuck up on our part”  
“I'm sure there's a good reason behind it” Allison gave Stiles a pat on the back and focused on Lydia “You okay with that?”  
“Do I have a choice?”  
“Not really, no” Allison smiled  
“Then I guess I’m okay with it” Lydia matched her smile  
  
  
  
Allison had offered to take first watch immediately after they had all eaten, Scott and Isaac had moved everything in the room to make a wide open space for them all to sit, far enough from the windows that the persistent rainfall didn't disturb them as much, Lydia had still drifted further away though, where the rest of her group had huddled together with the warmest clothes they possessed she had drifted away far enough so she was in clear sight but far enough that she wouldn't be able to hear them if they lowered their voices to a whisper  
She had isolated herself before any of Allison's team had, Allison was pretty sure they would have made her move anyway. Allison actually finds the entire thing pretty sad if she thinks about it too much  
She pulls her jacket closer against her and stepped back out into the rain, holding up her torch and grimacing at the cold, patrolling was necessary, Allison understood that, but in the middle of a storm visibility is low, she can barely hear- she just doesn't see the point other than adding pneumonia to her throbbing headache and nausea, Stiles had pointed out that she probably had a concussion, something Allison had denied and made him promise not to mention to anybody else, she just needed a few hours sleep and she'll be fine.  
At least the ringing in her ears has stopped, even if everything was still kinda muffled, small victories.  
“We need to talk” Derek announced, appearing beside her, Allison leapt away, bringing her hand up to her mouth to stifle her surprise  
“You need to stop doing that!” Allison exclaimed as Derek tugged her towards the motels reception  
  
Once inside Allison shook the rain from her hair and pulled her jacket off “Seriously Derek, it's fucking creepy how you just appear!”  
“I'll keep that in mind” Derek frowned, he points to the flyer on the noticeboard “Have you seen this?”  
“Of course I have” Allison folds her arms  
“And has-”  
“Yeah, she has and no, before you ask, she doesn't know I’m an Argent”Allison walks over to the sofa and falls down against it  
“You like her”  
“No, I don't” Allison passed a hand over her face “Not... Not like that” she tilted her head so she could see Derek clearly “I know you keep saying don't get attached, but I can't do that Der, she's a _human,_ just like we are, she's a person with a mind and feelings and she's so fucking scared even if she isn't showing it and yeah, she's a bitch and half the time she annoys me just as much as Erica does... But she's scared Derek and she doesn't want to go to Peter and when she sees an opportunity to escape she takes it, even if that has meant I’ve gotten hurt in the process”  
“You're defending her?” Derek's brow wrinkled in confusion “She's tried to kill you twice, she's _dangerous_ ”  
“Because that's the only way you're seeing her!” Allison shot to her feet “Don't you get it? We can deny It all we want but she's a person who's being held prisoner. She's going to hate us, she's going to try to escape and she's going to try and kill me because she doesn't trust us. Her name is Lydia Martin, her mom died, she's incredibly smart and enjoys pushing peoples buttons and has a weird hatred for seventies rock music and beautiful cars. You can refer to her as 'the package' or '1618' all you want but it doesn't stop those facts from being true”  
Derek stared at Allison for a tense few minutes as Allison pushed her hair from her face and held his eye  
“It's just....” Allison sighed “I know what it's like to feel like nothing but a piece of property, something with no identity that Peter can control, I’m not saying you need to be her best friend and share stories or anything like that... But you can't keep separating her from everyone else, you can't keep separating me from them, we're a team and I had to protect Lydia from a pack of wolves on my own today, I know I’m responsible for driving her to the compound, but I need you guys to have my back if shit like that happens again, I need for you all to help me protect her”  
Derek drops his head and lets out a quiet sigh before closing the distance and wrapping his arms around Allison  
“I'm sorry, I didn't realise”  
“It's okay”  
“We can't stop it though, she's going to the compound, you can't stop that, you know what will happen”  
Allison closes her eyes “I know”  
There's a crash of lightning somewhere near by, followed swiftly by what Allison can only assume is a tree falling “You should go get some sleep Allison”  
Allison pulls away slowly “Are you taking watch now?”  
Derek nods, reaching for her jacket and holding It out to her “You need sleep, you look like you're going to drop”  
Allison takes the jacket with a smile “You read me too well”  
“That's what brothers do Allison”  
“Yeah, yeah I know” Allison leant up on the tip of her toes and pressed a kiss to the mans cheek “love you Der, I’ll see you in the morning” She couldn't help but grin as she backed away “don't worry, you don't have to say it back”  
“You already know anyway” Derek replied  
“Of course” Allison laughed  
  
  
  
Lydia leant forward and tucked her head against her knees, she hadn't packed for a storm, hell, she had hardly packed at all, all of her outfits were either skirts or dresses and even she had to admit how impractical that was (Even if she wouldn't openly admit it to anyone) Honestly she could see herself having to borrow something from Allison, though she suspected the girl only owned plain v-necks and different shades of insanely tight jeans- not that Lydia was complaining, those jeans were fantastic and honestly she wished they didn't drive so much, she wouldn't mind seeing Allison walk around a bit more.  
Lydia hears a cackle from the group huddled a distance away and peers up at them, watching Erica pull Stiles into a headlock, they've gathered all of their torches together in the centre of them to create an impromptu camp fire, the light barely reaches Lydia but lets her see her surroundings bathed in a gentle light  
She hates how left out she feels, they have no obligation to include her, she doesn't want them to, she's their prisoner and they've made it clear that' how they see her, despite the way Allison acts around her  
Allison who had literally leapt to her feet to take the first watch, who, even though Derek left ten minutes ago to go take over and she still hasn't returned  
Lydia sighed quietly and hugged herself tighter  
She didn't expect to feel so alone  
Lydia startled when she felt material slide over her shoulders, her fingers moved over the damp leather and she looked up to see Allison walk around her before settling on the left of Lydia, her hair looks soaked and Lydia can just about make out stray droplets of rain rolling down her neck and along her collarbones  
Lydia pulls her attention away from Allison in favour of pulling the jacket more around herself, there's still some rain on it, but at least it covers her shoulders and arms from the cold, Allison however, is sleeveless  
“Shouldn't you be with your friends?” Lydia asks, watching Allison fidget with the torch in her hand, it's considerably dimmer than the other ones and Lydia suspects the batteries are low  
“It's not like they need me there” Allison replies quietly, setting the torch down in front of them “Besides, you looked lonely”  
Lydia tensed, only slightly and was thankful that there was enough space between them that Allison wouldn't notice “Well it's not like you all rolled out the welcome wagon for me”  
“Yeah, I know” Allison shuffled back so she could lean against the stack of shelves behind them, tilting her head back and closing her eyes “they just don't know how to treat you”  
“And you do?”  
“No, but I’m trying” Allison dropped her head to the side so their eyes met “You're hard to figure out”  
Lydia turned away from her and focused her eyes on the wall opposite her “Good”  
  
They stayed like that for a long time, sat side by side, eventually Lydia moved back so she was resting against the shelf, it was uncomfortable and hard, it dug into her spine but she didn't vocalise her complaints, she knew it would be pointless. She knew why they weren't staying in the rooms, she knew what they had found in some of the other rooms, and this building provided much better cover from the storm outside.  
But it was so fucking cold  
She turns when she catches movement from her peripheral vision and watches Allison press her hands to her temples, can see the way she seems to be shivering  
“You're cold”  
Allison drops her hands, head jerking towards Lydia “I'm not”  
Lydia raises an eyebrow “You're lying”  
Allison held her gaze for a few moments before chuckling “Yeah, yeah I’m lying”  
Lydia shook her head and shuffled closer so their shoulders were touching and with some careful adjustments, manages to share Allison's jacket  
“Stiles is right, why don't you own sleeping bags?”  
“There's probably a reason” Allison murmurs, moving in closer and her body is so soft and warm it's taking all of Lydia's mental capacity to keep herself from melting into it “Besides, if we did, you'd still be stuck” she add with a shrug  
“How do you mean?”  
“Well we wouldn't keep a spare, so you wouldn't have one so you'd be cold still” Allison's eyes close and her words are slow and steady, as though she's having to force every syllable out  
“What? Not a cuddler?”  
“Have you ever slept in a sleeping bag? You burn to death alone, sharing may as well be suicide”  
“You never answered my question” Lydia smirks, she's not sure why she bothers, Allison's eyes are shut, almost forcefully  
“I don't know” Allison replied “I'm not experienced in the art of cuddling” she finally opens her eyes and looks at Lydia, it's only then she can see the pain shining in them and Lydia wants to kick herself, of course Allison is in pain, she's probably got a concussion, honestly the girl is lucky she doesn't have a broken nose.  
But Lydia feels an overwhelming sense of guilt  
“What about you?” Allison asks, smiling despite her pain “you don't believe in love, what are your views on cuddling?”  
Lydia sniffs “It can have it's benefits”  
“Yeah?” Allison closes her eyes again “Like what?”  
“Keeping warm” Lydia replies  
“Is that a fact?”  
“Scientific”  
Allison laughs again, though her brow furrows and Lydia remembers how Allison hadn't slept the night before, how now she's hurt because of her and how she probably still can't hear well because Lydia nearly shot her  
She doesn't like feeling like this, she feels like she should apologise, really apologise, but somehow she knows that if she said the words, Allison wouldn't believe her and she wouldn't blame her for it. Lydia feels Allison's arm move and before she knows it, Allison is tugging her closer  
“Well,” She says “Who am I to argue with science?”  
“What?” Lydia asks with a huff  
“I said I would protect you right? I think protection from hypothermia falls under those conditions” She pulls on Lydia until Lydia is practically lying in her lap, she even goes so far as to push the jacket back over Lydia and it just makes the guilt stifling, Allison is in blatant pain, she's cold and wet yet here she is, putting Lydia first.  
Sighing, Lydia reaches up to cup Allison's cheek, the girls eyes fluttering open and staring down at Lydia quizzically, Lydia guides Allison's face down and leans up to meet her halfway, bringing their lips together in a soft kiss. She holds Allison there for a moment and is surprised that Allison kisses her back, opening her mouth against Lydia's and letting Lydia take the lead. Lydia has never been the best at talking about feelings, she tried to keep them on a lock down, to make herself seem unreadable and lets her actions speak for her, nobody could read her  
Until Allison  
This girl who by every right Lydia should really hate, it's just that Allison makes it so damn difficult with how she still trusts Lydia despite everything, how Allison saved her and defended her  
And now Allison is kissing her softly and it's all Lydia can really focus on  
She hopes Allison can understand why she's kissing her, that she can hear the apology, she thinks she should still say it anyway, just in case.  
Lydia pulls away for a moment, eyes flickering back up to Allison's for a moment. She presses one more kiss to Allison's lower lip before pulling away entirely  
Allison stares down at her, confusion clear in her eyes  
“What was that for?” Allison asked  
“I'm sorry” Lydia sighed  
“For kissing me?”  
“For hurting you”  
Allison blinked “Okay...” she nodded slowly “but you can't do that again”  
“I won't”  
Allison smiled down at her “You're lying”  
Lydia decides to throw Allison's words back at her “Yeah, I’m lying”  
Allison looks ahead and keeps her gaze steady “Go to sleep Lydia” she says, but there's something oddly fond to her voice, her hand even moves through Lydia's hair, Lydia turns her head and sees Allison's entire team, Derek included staring at them, all wearing unreadable expressions of varying confusion, Erica even seems to be mildly amusing  
Lydia turns herself back so she's facing Allison “You should sleep Allison, you'll only make yourself worse”  
Allison doesn't reply, but the hand in her hair tightens  
Sleep sounds like a really good idea right now

 


	6. Put your hands all over my body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did I mention that I'm very attracted to power?" Lydia asked  
> "There's a dead body behind me, please don't hit on me" Allison mumbled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Erotica" By Madonna (But taken from [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsRb3g6xgVs/html/) -which you should definitely listen to)

 

 

Allison woke up with a groan, the throbbing in the side of her head border lined on unbearable.  
"Well aren't you two adorable" a voice sang, Allison fought the urge to groan again, instead, she settled on closing her eyes and pressing her face against the soft cushion  
"Fuck off, Erica"  
"If I had a camera, I'd take a photo, this is perfect blackmail stuff right here"  
"What the fuck are you talking about Reyes?" Allison braced her hand on the cushion, noting how warm and soft it was. Her eyes snapped open and yep- not a cushion. Allison shot upright, pulling her hand away from Lydia's thigh. The sudden movement jarred Allison, sending a fresh wave of pain through her head. Groaning, she reached up to cup the side of her head. She glanced down at Lydia, who was still asleep on her own thigh  
"Hey, wake up" Allison said, still holding the side of her head with one hand and shaking the girl with the other  
"What?" Lydia mumbled, her eyes fluttered open and there was a brief moment where they looked at one another as Lydia realised where she was currently lying and pulled away quickly, "ugh, what time is it?" She asked, rubbing at her eyes  
Allison finally looked at Erica, who seemed to be studying Allison carefully, Erica averted her gaze quickly and looked towards Lydia  
"Almost eight"  
"Eight?" Allison exclaimed "why haven't we left yet?"  
Erica shrugged "Derek and the others are checking the cars for damage, and before you ask, your car is fine"  
"Oh thank fuck" Allison sighed  
"Also you look like shit" Erica added bluntly  
"Oh Erica, you always say the nicest things"  
Lydia turns suddenly and presses the back of her hand to Allison's forehead. Allison flinched away instinctively, Lydia glared at her and moved forward to press her hand more firmly against Allison's head  
"You're warm" Lydia frowned "do you have a headache?"  
"You mean from when you head butted and then shot at me? Why yes, yes I do" Allison replied, pulling away from Lydia's hand "funny how that works"  
Lydia rolled her eyes "you're pale too"  
"Maybe you should kiss her better" Erica suggested with a smirk, Allison groaned and shot her leg out to kick Erica sharply "Ow! Motherfucker!" Erica rubbed at her shin, Lydia moved off to the side "I'm just saying, after last night..."  
"I swear to God, if you finish that sentence, it'll be the last thing you ever say" Allison growled, Erica held her hands up in surrender and backed away, Lydia shoved a bottle under her nose, nothing in her expression to show how she felt  
"Drink" she ordered  
Allison glared at Lydia as she took the bottle from Lydia's hand and downed half of its contents in one go, Allison ran a hand through her hair. Ignoring the way Erica was flashing a concerned look at her, if Erica looked concerned then there was probably a good reason to maybe be worried  
"You should sleep" Lydia said, Allison looked back at her and realised Lydia was still wearing her jacket from the night before  
"I'm _fine_ " Allison protested "it's just a headache"  
"No offence, but you look like absolute shit" Erica stepped back "I'm gonna get Derek"  
Erica walked away before Allison could stop her, Allison wrapped her arms around herself and sighed, Lydia was still staring at her  
"I'm not sick"  
"Yeah, the pale skin, bags under your eyes and obvious pain are very convincing" Lydia hummed, she leant in close to study her face "at least you got off lucky with your nose, no bruising"  
Allison's eyes flickered down to Lydia's lips, she averted her gaze quickly "small victories I guess" Allison replied "you kissed me"  
Lydia smiled and moved so she was sat beside Allison, their backs to the wall "and you kissed me back"  
"We can't do it again”  
"You keep saying that, why is it that I don't believe you?" Lydia asked  
"Why are you so insistent?" Allison countered instead  
"You're hot, I'm hot, it would be a crime if we didn't make the most of it, it may as well have been fate"  
Allison scoffed "there's no such thing as fate"  
Lydia laughed "maybe not"  
"Is she okay?" Derek practically ran into the room, Scott and Stiles followed close behind, bring the cavalry why don't you  
"I'm fine!" Allison snapped "it's just a headache"  
If looks could kill, then Lydia would have been dead ten times over from the look Derek gave her alone, Lydia seemed to pick up on the vibe and shuffled closer to Allison. Derek, Scott and Stiles crowded around her  
"Are you okay to drive?" Derek asked  
"She needs rest" Lydia spoke up  
"I wasn't asking you" Derek snapped "it's your fault she's sick"  
"Oh, I'm _sorry_ that I was trying to escape captivity so I could be a free person"  
"You were almost a dead person had Allison not saved you and now look where-"  
"Okay!" Scott and Stiles moved so they were between the pair  
"Maybe we don't raise our voices with Allison here?" Stiles suggested, for a moment, Allison thought Derek was going to protest, she could see the muscle tense in his jaw, but he reached a hand out and squeezed her knee  
"She's not driving" Lydia said "she needs to sleep more and drink plenty"  
"Fine" Derek replied, he looks at Allison "are you okay?"  
"I'm fine" Allison sighed, "nobody is listening to me"  
"What does she need?" Derek asked Lydia, Allison threw her hands up in frustration making Scott smile sympathetically at her  
"A quiet space" Lydia shrugged "water, something more comfortable to sleep on than just the floor"  
"You can have my hoodie" Scott grinned, already pulling it over his head  
"We need to get some blankets and pillows the next time we pass through a town, we're raiding a store" Stiles sighed, pulling off his own jacket.  
Allison gave up trying to protest and let them baby her, using Scott's hoodie as a pillow and draping Stiles' over her like a blanket  
"What are you guys gonna do?" Allison asked, she reached for her water bottle and unscrewed the cap, taking another swig  
"The storm uprooted a lot of trees and shit, we've been cleaning a path so we can actually leave" Stiles explained  
"But we need to make sure the rest of the road is clear" Derek added "So we won't go anywhere for a while" he squeezed her knee again "so get some rest" he moves to stand and shoots another glare at Lydia "if you try anything...." He trails off, letting the threat hang before stalking out of the room  
Allison, Scott and Stiles shared a look and Allison couldn't help but think his behaviour has something to do with seeing Lydia kiss her, she doesn't understand why  
But then again, there's not much she understands these days  
"Feel better, Alli" Scott mumbled, leaning in to kiss Allison on the top of her head, Stiles winked and saluted as he followed Scott from the room  
"Drink" Lydia nudged Allison's arm "then sleep"  
Allison shook her head slowly, she drank from her bottle before arranging Scott's hoodie into an impromptu pillow and lying back down on the ground. It was moments like this she missed the compound and her apartment, Scott's hoodie didn't compare to Lydia's thigh either, she'd be dammed if she admitted that though  
"It is your fault though, a little" Allison muttered  
She hears Lydia sigh "I know" she feels Lydia shuffle beside her and a hand on the back of her neck "does this happen every time you get shot at?"  
"I try not to make getting shot at close range a habit"  
"Are you always this sarcastic?"  
"I try, curse of growing up with Stiles, you don't last long out here without some sort of sense of humour"  
"Go to sleep Allison, that headache isn't going to go away on its own"  
Allison smirked "is that concern in your voice?"  
"As much as I would love to delay the inevitable, I don't feel comfortable being on a property with so many dead bodies" Allison rolled onto her side slightly to look up at Lydia, eyes flickering over a book being held open with her free hand, Lydia looked away from the word on the page to look down to Allison "I don't want to die in a car crash because you're off your game more than usual"  
“There's nothing wrong with my driving, you'll see”  
“Hm, whatever. Go to sleep Allison”

 

An hour had passed in relative peace, Allison was sleeping peacefully beside her and Lydia had made a conscious effort to ignore the girl beside her. Lydia hated how guilty she felt, but it was so hard to not feel guilty when she had seen how sick Allison had looked when she woke up. Not to mention that Lydia was eighty percent sure Derek was actively planning her death now as a result. He clearly didn't trust her and apparently her little act the night before had only made the man trust her even less, if the way people kept wandering into the room to check on them both.  
Lydia set her book down, no longer focused on it, honestly, she hadn't been paying attention for the last twenty pages, and turned to look down at the sleeping girl.  
She already looked so much better, not quite as pale as she had only an hour ago, Lydia still didn't think she would be fit to drive for a few hour but some improvement is better than none  
Lydia looked up as she heard an engine roar to life, eventually becoming a distant sound. Lydia was about to wake Allison up to ask, she doubted any of the team would leave Allison, let alone leave her alone with Lydia. Before she could shake the girl awake, she saw some of the team walk in, Derek was noticeably absent from the group  
"How is she?" Scott asked, leading the group towards her  
"She looks better" Stiles points out  
"Really? I think she looks like shit" Erica added  
" _She_ can hear you" Allison mumbled, pushing herself up slowly, her hair was dishevelled on the side she had been sleeping, Allison frowned as she eyed the group "where's Derek?"  
"He took Boyd and Isaac to go check the road we came on, something about trees or some shit" Erica waved a hand dismissively, she smirked and leant in close, "let's talk about last night"  
"Let's not" Allison pushed Erica back, she turned her attention to Danny "trees?"  
"Derek is worried that the storm uprooted some trees and blocked the road we came here on" Danny explained  
"But if the road is blocked we can't get back onto our route" Allison frowned thoughtfully, Lydia could see the gears turning into her head "would we move them?"  
"That's why he's taken Boyd and Isaac, they'll see how bad it all is" Scott replied  
It was Lydia's turn to frown, Boyd she could understand, he was built like a tank, but Isaac? He looked like he would struggle to lift a book  
"They took Isaac because Derek doesn't trust him with Erica" Stiles explained, clearly picking up on Lydia's train of thought "they're bad enough together-"  
"Even worse when Allison is involved" Danny added, giving Allison a sly look  
"But Derek felt that Isaac being here based on what happened last night...." Scott trailed off, looking conflicted as how to continue  
"Oh my God" Lydia sighed "is this because I kissed Allison?"  
"Pretty much" Erica nodded  
"We're not talking about this" Allison stood up, she threw Stiles' hoodie at him  
"But-"  
"No" Allison snapped, Erica just grinned more and Lydia could tell the girl was getting far too much enjoyment out of this "we kissed, it has happened, it won't happen again. End of story."  
"You used to be fun" Erica mumbled, Lydia could see the irritation in Allison's eyes. Allison made a point of checking her guns before she holstered them  
"This place is a Vox base right?" She asked, pointedly ignoring Erica  
"That's the theory" Danny replied "why?"  
"Because we have a chance to search the place, check the bodies, see what we could find" Allison shrugged  
"Sounds fun" Erica hummed, leaping to her feet "hanging out with corpses for an hour"  
"Wait what?" Stiles looked around, concerned "is this necessary?"  
"Come on Stiles" Allison grabbed his shoulders "we could find information to lead us to Leto"  
Stiles groaned, but let Danny pull him up "fine, fine, we'll go look at the bodies more" Stiles sighed  
"Danny is with us though" Allison said, Stiles made a sound of protest but nobody said anything, Lydia had a strong suspicion that when Derek wasn't around, Allison was the one who called the shots. Allison looked down to Lydia "you coming or not?" She asked  
"Do I have a choice?"  
Allison smirked "no"  
Lydia rolled her eyes and pushed herself to her feet "well let's go then"

  
  
Allison pushed the door open, eyeing the foot shaped hole in the wood and stepped inside the familiar room, Allison can't help but wonder how the hell she missed the stench of rot the first time she set foot in here, in her defence, her nose _had been_ bleeding at the time.  
"I give it ten minutes before Stiles passes out" Danny muttered  
Allison leans against the door frame and watches Stiles, Scott and Erica were just entering another room a short distance away, she leant in close to Danny  
"Five minutes" she replied before stepping fully into the room "we should probably leave the door open"  
"You think?" Lydia mumbled, just under her breath  
Allison rolled her eyes and walked around to where the body lay  
"Here" Danny held out a pair of surgical gloves, Allison frowned as she took them "there was a box of them in the back room" he shrugged "it made sense to grab them"  
"Good call" Allison agreed, pulling the gloves on, bless Danny for his quick thinking, she _really_ hadn't been looking forward to handling a body that had been dead for so many days  
"Please don't tell me you make a habit of touching corpses?" Lydia asked from the doorway  
"Not exactly something we make a habit of" Danny replied  
"God, it's a miracle you've all survived this long"   
Allison and Danny shared a look, she could see the grief flash immediately in his eyes as they both crouched beside the body, she nudged his shoulder with her own and he responded with a weak smile  
"Not all of us did" Allison replied. There was a long silence and Allison realised Lydia had no intention of replying, a brief glance showed that Lydia was still there by the doorway, she even looked a little apologetic  
"Should we try to find some ID?" Danny asked, he was already reaching into the pockets of the woman's jacket  
"I don't think that's necessary" Allison replied, eyeing the red material tied onto the sleeve of the jacket  
"What have you found?" Lydia asked, Allison heard her move further into the room, she pulled the material from the corpses arm and held up the bandanna  
"It's the rebels colour" Allison explained  
"So she's a Vox" Danny said  
"Only one way to be sure" Allison replied, Danny nodded his agreement and reached for the chain poking out from under her shirt, grimacing as his fingers brushed against exposed muscle of the woman's throat, Allison grimaced, God, they weren't getting paid enough for this shit. His fingers closed around the chain and pulled sharply, the chain snapping  
"Dog tags" Danny held up the chain  
"Definitely a Vox" Allison observed the blood splattered metal "if the rest of the bodies are Vox then it's safe to say they were killed by rabids" beside her, Danny stands up, pulling off a glove and extending his hand out for Allison to take and pulling her to her feet  
"I'm sorry, but how does that prove anything?" Lydia asked, holding up a hand in question  
Allison pulled off her gloves and threw them across the room "the Animus Vox apparently have this whole.... Thing, about not killing people who get bitten by wolves, gives them a chance to see if they bond or not"  
"But the chances of bonding is one in a thousand" Lydia replied "we never saw anyone who bonded with it in the compound"  
"Yeah, because anybody who gets bitten gets shot point blank before they can even have a chance to react" Allison replied, her voice coming out sharp, "if you want to have a chance at bonding you have to hide from everyone"  
"Should we check another room?" Danny asked, effectively stopping Allison from continuing her rant, even Lydia looked thankful for the interruption  
Allison thought for a moment, holding Lydia's gaze as she considered her options, there were four other bodies they could check out, not to mention all of the nooks and crannies they could search. This is a pro Vox building after all, there's bound to be some information somewhere  
"No" Allison shook her head "the wolves should be hiding because of the storm right?" She asked  
"They'll definitely be more skittish" Danny replied "why?"  
Allison shared a look with Lydia "because we're going to check out that abandoned car Lydia was trying to run to"  
Lydia raised an eyebrow "And why would we do that?"  
"Because I said so" Allison replied with a shrug  
"Well, we better head out then" Danny nudged Allison as he stepped past her and Lydia out of the room "I'll go tell the others"  
"Tell them to search the building too, Stiles is good at finding hidden shit"  
"You got it" Danny winked, walking away and leaving Allison alone with Lydia  
"Did I mention that I'm very attracted to power?" Lydia asked  
"There's a dead body behind me, please don't hit on me" Allison mumbled as she pushed past the girl  
"Does your head feel better?"  
Allison was caught off guard by the genuine concern in Lydia's voice and turned back to her "yeah, I feel better" honestly, there was still lingering pain there, just a dull ache in the side of her head, but it was tolerable by this point. "Thank you" Allison added, though she knew the only reason Lydia really cared was because she was convinced Allison was gonna wrap the car around a tree or something  
“So you yelled at me yesterday for running through the forest, but now you _want_ me to go back in?” Lydia asked, Allison could hear the grin in her voice. Allison walked over to where her car was parked and opened the trunk   
“Well this time it's planned, me and Danny are going to be there and we have weapons” Allison pulled a worn out satchel from the corner of the trunk of her car   
“Can I have a weapon?” Lydia asked  
Allison laughed and pushed the satchel into Lydia's hands “You can carry the bag”  
“Why do I need an empty bag?”  
“In case we find anything useful at that car”  
“Why can't I have a weapon?” Lydia asked  
Allison tapped her ear “Because you nearly deafened me yesterday”   
“You guys ready?” Danny called as he approached them  
“When you are” Allison replied. Lydia sighs dramatically and slides the bag over her shoulder and shoves her hands into her pockets, Allison realises with a start that Lydia is still wearing her leather jacket from the night before. Lydia catches her staring and raises an unimpressed eyebrow, Allison averts her gaze quickly and looks towards the tree line   
“Let's go”

 

Lydia watched as Allison took the lead, walking a few feet ahead of Lydia, Danny a few feet behind For the first ten minutes of walking Lydia admittedly felt incredibly on edge, really not wanting a repeat of the day before. She found herself listening out for the snap of every twig and doing a double take at regular intervals  
Eventually Danny began to walk at her side, though he kept one hand on the gun on his hip, ahead of them, Allison had her pistol out, ready to fire at a moments notice  
“So you think that it's the rebels fault they're all dead?” Lydia asked, finally deciding to break the silence between them all  
“That pretty much sums it up” Danny nods “You see, someone gets bitten, the compounds and shit will just put them down immediately” Danny's brow furrows together for a moment “But the polar opposite are the Vox, if someone get bitten, they just let this person carry on as normal, if they bond, great, if they don't...”  
“They die” Lydia finished  
“That's the nice alternative” Allison replied “The other alternative is going rabid”  
“Which is what's probably happened here” Danny continues “Team mate was bitten, they carry on as normal, go rabid, killed entire team and ran into the woods to die”  
“How long does a rabid live for?” Lydia asked  
“Who knows, we're not scientists, Lydia, we don't study this shit” Allison shrugged “I hate both sides view of it, the compounds shoot them down, the Vox puts other people at risk...”  
“But they both think they're right” Lydia said  
“People have gone to war for less”  
“Would you really call this a war?” Lydia asked  
“We may as well” Danny replied  
“And you're okay with fighting for Lykaion?”  
“We don't fight for them” Allison snapped “We _work_ for them. There's a difference”  
“Is there? Really?” Lydia watched Allison's grip on her gun tightened, she wasn't as aware of the inner workings as Allison and her team seemed to be, but she was more than aware that they were not good people “Do you kill Vox?”  
“Only when they attack us” Danny muttered “We're just supposed to deliver packages. We kill more bandits than anyone else”  
“We've worked with Vox before to take on bandits, so long as they don't try to hurt us we won't hurt them” Allison added.  
Lydia has so many questions, she wants to know why they work for Lykaion when they so clearly hate it, they're so against it so why are they here? She wants to know about their life at the compound they live in, why they hate it so much, she feels like it's different there compared to her life at Echidna  
She wants to know how and why Allison got sucked into it, from what Lydia has seen the girl has no love Lykaion, even less love for Peter. A part of Lydia suspects that Allison is only there out of obligation, whether it's for her adoptive brothers or not, Lydia doesn't know, maybe it was the only choice she had, maybe she didn't have a choice at all.  
It was pissing Lydia off how much she wanted to know more about this girl  
“There it is” Allison nodded to their left and Lydia followed her gaze to where the car lay and watched Allison stride over to it  


Allison frowned at what remained of the tire tracks in the mud, kicking at the scattering of glass embedded into the ground. She looked up at the car, noticing the rear view window had been blown out completely  
“Danny, take the left”  
“Got it” Danny unholstered his gun  
“Lydia, stay close”  
Lydia huffed but Allison felt her presence close behind her. Danny and Allison shared another look before breaking apart and circling the car, Allison moved slowly and grabbed the door handle with her free hand and yanked it open, moving quickly to point her gun inside the car  
“Oh shit, okay never mind” Allison grimaced  
“What is it?”  
“Don't look Lydia” Allison muttered, looking at the corpse slumped in the drivers seat. It was a woman, no older than early thirties  
“It's a body, isn't it?”  
“Yeah”  
Lydia moved closer to look at the body, Allison watched her carefully, gauging her reaction. Lydia blanched at first but forced herself to keep looking. Allison had to admire her steel  
“You didn't have to look”  
“I have a feeling that a dead body is something I’m going to have to get used to seeing” Lydia replied, her voice flat. Allison had to admit this was probably true, but it didn't change the fact that Allison had wanted to try and keep as much of this away from Lydia as possible during their time together  
“You're probably right” Allison agreed, she reached up to squeeze Lydia's shoulder “Danny!” She called  
“Yeah?”  
“Can you look around the area a bit? See if there's anything of interest?”  
“Sure, whatever you want” Danny replied  
“Go with him” Allison said  
“What are you going to do?” Lydia asked. Allison gestured to the car and Lydia's face dropped “You're not going in there, are you?”  
“Afraid so” Allison replied, flicking the safety back on her gun and holstering it, Lydia made a face of disgust  
“Good luck with that” She mumbled before walking over to where Danny was standing at the front of the car. Allison let out a heavy sigh before climbing into the passenger seat, leaving the door open and settling back into the seat  
“So...” Allison pauses to turn to the woman and pulls at the dog tag around the neck of the woman beside her, she isn't surprised to see it only has the first initial of the woman’s name “Morell, sorry about breaking into your car and the whole....” Allison waves a hand around her vaguely “being dead thing, really, that sucks” Allison scratches her head “But you are a rebel and there's a chance that you might have some really good secrets that'll help me and my team out” Allison shrugs, she glances over to where Danny and Lydia are walking nearby, scanning the ground for anything that Morell may have dropped. Allison finds her gaze lingering on Lydia for longer than she would like so instead she busied herself with searching the contents of the glove compartment, she made a sound of joy when she stumbled upon a selection of cassette tapes and pulled them out onto her lap “Oh my god look at this collection! Okay so I have this one... and this one...” Allison threw two of the tapes back where she had found them “The Runaways! Awesome. Cyndi Lauper? Nice. Bonnie Tyler?Sure... I'm not one to judge I guess...” Allison's face fell “Abba?” she turned to the body “Really? Like really, wow I’ve lost respect for you.” Allison muttered, she turned her focus to the final tape “oh my god Joan Jett and the blackhearts? Okay respect gained, god if you weren't dead I’d high five you. You don't mind if I keep these right? I'm totally keeping them” Allison shoved the tapes back into her pocket and turned back to the body “Okay Morell, if you had Vox secrets where would you hide them? Give me something here woman” Allison watched a fly land on the corpses face “right, dead. My bad” Allison turned flung herself back into her seat and pushed a hand through her hair, her eyes fall on Lydia again and before she's aware she finds herself staring, it's only when Lydia catches her eye does Allison pull herself back into reality  
“I don't know what I’m doing Morell, it wasn't even that good of a kiss, it was confusing, like she shot at me and then she kisses me? I don't understand her” Allison sighed, but the fact was, she couldn’t _stop_ thinking about that kiss, how Lydia had looked at her as she reached up to her and how Lydia had essentially slept in her arms for the majority of the night “You're lucky you're dead, you don't have to worry about things like this. Seriously, she's so annoying, she won't tell me anything and did I mention she tried to kill me? Twice. How could I be developing feelings for her?” Allison closed her eyes “I don't know what to do”   
“What are you doing?” Lydia asked as she approached the door, Allison didn't miss how she seemed to deliberately avoid looking at the body  
“Talking to Morell”  
Lydia raised an eyebrow “Are you losing your mind?”  
“It's quite possible” Allison muttered, she held out the box of tapes “Put these in the bag”  
Lydia raised an unimpressed eyebrow but held out a hand for Allison to place the box in   
“So did Morell have any good advice?”  
“Not really” Allison shuffled forward to look inside the glove compartment “Guess she isn't feeling very talkative”   
“How'd she die?” Lydia asked  
“Dunno, I haven't looked”  
“What _are_ you doing then?”  
Allison pulled out her flash light and flicked it on to peer into the glove compartment better, reaching in with her free hand and feeling around “Trying to find a hidden compartment”  
Lydia scoffed “You've been reading too many shitty spy novels”  
“I have literally _never_ read a spy novel” Allison mumbled  
“But you can read, right?”  
“You know I can read” Allison shot back, as she did so she heard something open inside the glove compartment. She shot Lydia a triumphant look “I fucking told you so”  
“Are you serious?” Lydia moved into Allison's space to try and get a better look, Allison handed her the flash light and began to pull out the contents  
“Maybe you should try and stop underestimating my skills” Allison replied, pulling out a set of three leather bound journals and a stack of letters, all tied together in a red ribbon “Pay dirt”   
“I can't believe you actually found something”   
Allison pulled the ribbon off of the stack and opened the first letter, frowning at the contents  
“Lydia, what language Is this?” Allison held out the letter, as soon as Lydia took it she began to study the journals, finding them to be in the same strange language, as she thumbed through one of the journals she found small sketches, numbers and shapes she couldn't distinguish  
“It's not a language” Lydia spoke up eventually “It's a cipher”  
“....Okay...” Allison turned so her back was to Morell and pinned Lydia with a serious look “Pretend I don't know what that means”  
“You don't know what it means, do you?”  
“Not in the fucking slightest” Allison replied immediately  
Lydia sighed and handed the letter back to Allison “It's encoded text, the only way we'll be able to translate what it means is if we have their code book”  
“Which I’m going to guess we don't have?” Allison replied  
“Yep”  
“For fucks sake” Allison groaned “Whatever, put them in the bag, who knows, maybe we'll get lucky”   
Lydia grumbled something under her breath as Allison turned her attention back to Morell, finally observing the woman’s face and the trail of dried blood coming from a hole in her forehead  
“She was shot, back of the head, this is an exit wound”  
“That explains the blood on the dashboard” Lydia replied  
Allison turned and climbed out from the car, using Lydia's shoulder as a brace “But that just leaves more questions”  
“How so?” Danny asked, finally approaching them   
“A rabid can't use a gun, they can't drive, they're basically animals. So she wasn't the rabid and neither was whoever killed her”  
“Does that mean a rabid didn't kill the Vox at the motel?” Lydia asked  
“Seems that way”  
“But the teeth marks were definitely human” she frowned   
“Cannibals?” Allison suggested  
“Seems a bit outlandish, don't you think?” Danny replied  
Allison shrugged as she walked around to the trunk “I'm just throwing ideas out there” She opened the trunk and grinned at the contents “Now are you guys gonna help me get this stuff back to the cars or what?”

 

Lydia sticks close to Allison as they walk back to the motel, the bag she's carrying is weighed down with medical and food supplies, Allison and Danny were on either side of her, both carrying small bags filled with ammo, they hadn't found any weapons which had only furthered Allison's suggestion of murderous cannibals who had stolen the weapons from the motel. The idea of cannibals was completely absurd, even Danny seemed to think Allison was being over the top  
Lydia caught sight of Derek's black camero and subconsciously found herself stepping closer to Allison, she can't believe she actually finds herself being nervous of the man, that he's going to split her and Allison up. It's not that she doesn't like the rest of the team, Lydia could actually see her and Erica getting along pretty well with their shared love of pissing Allison off, Danny and the rest of them all seem nice enough but they aren't Allison, she doesn't _want_ to be separated from her, even if Allison is annoying eighty percent of the time and Lydia is convinced that if anything is going to be the death of her during the journey to Lykaion, it's that godforsaken death trap of a car   
But at least Allison is still hot  
“Well that can't be good news” Allison mumbled upon seeing Derek and the rest of the team stood around the hood of his car, studying a map, Danny hummed his agreement. Derek must have heard them because he stops whatever it was that he was saying and looks up at the three of them  
“Where have you all been?” he demanded, Allison gestured over her shoulder with her thumb   
“We were checking out the abandoned car....”  
“You shouldn't have gone alone”  
“Danny and Lydia were with me!” Allison protested “And we found good stuff!”  
“What'd you find?” Erica bounded up to them, clearly intrigued. Allison reached into her bag and pulled out a small box of ammo and held it out for Erica  
“Shotgun shells”  
“Fuck YES” Erica snatched the box from her “Oh this is awesome, thank you”   
“We have ammo for all kinds of guns, we found some food, tinned soup and stuff-”  
“Some medical supplies” Danny added  
“And I found a bunch of tapes!” Allison grinned  
“Did you find your Fleetwood Mac tape?” Stiles asked  
“No” Allison sighed “But I remain hopeful” She hesitated for a few moments, looking at Lydia before focusing on Derek “We found something else”  
“What is it?”  
“Journals, letters, from the Vox. But they're... written in code”  
“So they're useless” Derek sighed, turning back towards the map  
“Not if we find this book thing, then we can....” Allison trailed off when she realised that nobody was really paying attention, she sighed quietly and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, eyes cast downwards. Danny walked past, giving Allison's shoulder a brief squeeze and Lydia actually found herself feeling a little sorry for Allison, though she couldn't quite pinpoint the exact reasons why. Maybe it was because of how proud Allison had been when she had found the journals, Lydia made a note to ask Allison when they got a chance alone  
“Okay, so what's the problem?” Allison asked, Boyd moved so she could slip in by Derek, Lydia moved so she could see the map too  
“Our route is completely blocked, we don't have the resources to move them all, we can't drive around them...”  
“So what's the new plan?” Allison leant in closer  
“If we want to get back onto our original route we have to follow this road” Derek placed his finger on the map and moved it along “But It means we have to pass through a town a few hours away and then there's a city we would have to go through too before we can get back on track”   
Lydia watched as the team shared mixed looks of concern, Allison was the only one not looking up from the map, still studying it intensely   
“Even if we wanted to plan a new route, we would have to pass through the town first” She spoke up eventually “We may as well go for it”  
“There aren't any motels along the way, we'd have to find somewhere in the town to sleep in” Derek replied  
“I'm fine with it if you all are” Allison lifted her head and glanced around the group   
“I'm fine with it, but only if we high tail it through that city, I don't want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary in there” Stiles shuddered  
“Anybody else?” Derek asked, nobody spoke up so he nodded and rolled up the map “Okay then, Stiles made lunch, we'll head out after that” he walked past everybody and headed towards the gas station  
“What's wrong with him?” Allison asked, concern evident in her voice  
“He's been weird all day” Isaac replied with a shrug   
“Great” Allison sighed, she turned to Stiles “What'd you find out about the bodies?”  
“All Vox, some were killed with gunshots to the chest, two of them had bandaged bites that looked like they came from wolves, they had wolf marks”  
“Wolf marks?” Lydia asked  
“That's what Stiles calls the black veins that show up around the bite after a week or so of infection” Danny explained  
“Creative” Lydia replied   
“I also managed to find some food reserves, so it seems like we're set for a while” Stiles clapped his hands together  
“But no Vox secrets?” Allison asked  
“Nope, looks like you had more luck with that” Erica replied “Sucks that it's encrypted or some shit. Do you still have them?”  
“Of course” Allison made a face, as though she couldn't believe Erica would ask her such a thing   
“Who knows, maybe you'll be able to decipher it” the blonde winked “Or science girl over there” She nods at Lydia  
“Come on guys” Stiles calls “lunch awaits us” 

  
  
“Hey” Lydia catches Allison's arm before she can follow her team to lunch, Allison turns to her expectantly “Everybody went weird when Derek brought up the route change”  
Allison carefully eased herself from Lydia's grip and folded her arms across her chest, casting a brief look over to where she could make out Stiles look at them from the doorway of the gas station  
“Why?” Lydia asked  
“They're closed off” Allison replied “When we're on the roads we can see pretty well and there's no risk of people hiding. When we're in a town or a city...”  
“There are blind spots” Lydia finished  
“Exactly” Allison nodded “Bandits favour them, it's so easy to get cut off in a city, trapped... It's claustrophobic and so dangerous” She leant against Derek's car “There are wolves wandering the streets, bandits, Vox... In some cities you get bears and shit, depends on where you are though”  
Lydia nodded in understanding, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her- of _Allison's_ jacket  
“So why not just stay here for another night and then leave earlier tomorrow?”  
Allison pushed a curl of hair from her face “We don't tend to stay in one place for too long, even today is a rare occurrence”  
“But why?”  
“Schedule, mostly. But also the risks of being trailed and stuff, there's just so many factors to take into consideration” Allison shrugged  
“So you spend most of your time on the road?”  
“Yeah” Allison pushed herself off of the car and began to walk towards the gas station where her team were waiting  
“Don't you get lonely?” Lydia asked, following close behind  
“No” Allison replied, she resisted the urge to flinch at her own blatant lie and forced herself not to look at Lydia  
“You're lying”  
Allison laughed quietly and shook her head slightly, eyes on the ground “Yeah. Yeah, I’m lying”

 

Allison drove steadily, fingers drumming a quiet beat against the steering wheel, she was so relieved to have taken the box of tapes from Morell, she was beginning to get sick of her own collection.  
Allison looked at the comm resting on her dashboard and sighed quietly, the silence in the car felt comfortable compared to the silence she had felt at lunch It hadn't even been that quiet, not with Erica and Stiles being... Well, themselves. But there was something bothering Derek, making things awkward between the two of them and she was seriously beginning to suspect it was down to the kiss with Lydia the night before  
She just needed to prove to Derek that it meant nothing, Lydia had kissed her sure, and sure, it had been a _really_ good kiss and maybe she couldn't stop thinking about it but that wasn't going to get in the way of the job and she just had to make him see that. Allison understood that Derek was just trying to protect her from Lydia, he didn't trust the girl at all and Allison could understand why but Derek had to understand that Lydia had only done that out of fear and desperation, she wasn't going to do it again. She wasn't going to run again.  
Lydia sighs, pulling Allison from her thoughts and Allison turned in time to see her closing one of the journals and turning to throw it onto the back seat  
“No luck?” Allison asked  
“If I had a code book I could decipher it all, until then it's all gibberish” Lydia replied breezily, she settles back into her seat, a new book in her hand as she opens it. Allison studies the cover  
“What's that?”  
Lydia glanced over her book at Allison “Origin of species”  
“Origin of what now?”  
Lydia rolled her eyes dramatically “Origin of species. Charles Darwin? Does the name ring a bell? The foundation of evolutionary biology”  
“....So it's important?”  
“It was a very important book, It shaped the society we see today-” Lydia cut herself off and looked forward out of the window “The society _before_ the war and the bombs and this...”  
“I get your point” Allison laughed, “What's that on the cover?” she asked, gesturing to the spiral on the cover  
Lydia closed the book and traced the spiral with her index finger “It's a nautilus shell, the golden spiral”  
“The golden what?”  
“The golden spiral, it's a logarithmic spiral, the growth factor is the golden ratio and-”  
“Okay, stop” Allison held a hand up “I have no idea what you're talking about now”  
“I'm talking about math”  
“Math has numbers and shit! This is not math!”  
“Did you even study math?”  
“I know how to count and add shit”  
Lydia actually looked somewhat concerned “Don't you need math for this job?”  
“If Derek has five bullets and I have four bullets, how quickly can we kill the people shooting at us? That's probably about the extent of my need for math”  
Lydia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose “Okay, so the golden spiral. It's a....Pattern... That repeats itself in nature, like, you see it everywhere, in shells, flower petals, bees, the stars... Even in us”  
“That's so... That's pretty fucking amazing”  
“It's the structure of the universe” Lydia shrugged  
“How do you know all of this?”  
“I had a lot of spare time and no friends, I read a lot”  
Allison actually felt a pang of sympathy for Lydia at her words, Allison may not have much, her entire birth family may have all been killed and she may belong to a corrupt corporation, but she could safely say she had never lacked in love or friendship  
“You seriously never heard of that stuff?” Lydia asked with only a slight edge of mocking to her tone  
“You seriously never thought to not go running through the woods with a gun you didn't know how to fire?” Allison shot back, smirking  
“Okay, so I may have underestimated the recoil-”  
“Underestimated? Not only did you almost kill me, you almost shattered your wrist! You didn't compensate for the recoil enough”  
“You're enjoying being smarter than me at something, aren't you?” Lydia asked  
“Definitely” Allison grinned

 

Lydia watched Allison's grin falter slightly as she looked at the comms device on the dashboard. Lydia debated with herself for all but five minutes before she decided to break the peaceful silence that had now fallen between them  
“Why didn't Derek care about the journals?” She asked, grimacing as Allison's smile fell completely, fingers closing around the steering wheel  
“To have access to journals from the Vox is a chance to get more insight into how they work, but it's also a distraction from the task at hand”  
“You mean taking me to Lykaion?”  
“Ye- no! No. Not just you” Allison sighed “With our other jobs too. We plan our jobs out perfectly”  
“Like with the map?”  
“Exactly” Allison looked away from the road to meet Lydia's watchful eye “We plan it all out, we communicate well and we stick to our route, we've met people along the way and we'll help when possible but we have a job and Derek makes sure we stay on track” Allison shifts slightly so she's resting her left elbow against the door of her car, chin on her hand as she held the steering wheel with her right hand  
“What does this have to do with the journals?” Lydia asked  
“The journals are a distraction, another job. He probably worried that I’m going to get obsessed and want to go off track to try and find that code book so we can know what they're saying”  
“How is this any different than your obsession with that tape?” Lydia frowned, Allison was about to reply when the comm crackled to life  
“ _We'll reach the town in forty”_ Derek's voice rose over the music, Allison reached over to flick the switch on the side  
“Thanks Der” she replied, flicking the switch again and sitting forward in her seat slightly. Lydia waited for a while for Allison to continue talking, she settled for watching the scenery pass until the girl finally spoke up again “The tape is harmless, just a little goal. It doesn't get in the way of the job”  
“But deciphering the journals would be”  
Allison smiled “Exactly. Getting a codebook would probably mean having to face Vox....”  
“Which would mean fighting” Lydia finished, drawing her own conclusions “It's unnecessary danger”  
“And nobody got hurt trying to find a cassette tape” Allison replied. She smiled again suddenly and tilted her head towards Lydia “You know, you're nice to talk to when you aren't trying to sleep with me”  
Lydia matched her smile “And you're hot when you smile”   
Allison laughed and focused her eyes back on the road, still smiling and with a blush creeping up her cheeks. Lydia opened her book and began to read

 

Lydia was still reading thirty minutes later when she heard Allison take a sharp breath. Concerned, Lydia lowered her book and almost made a sound herself. They had just driven into the town, Allison had slowed down considerably as to be able to manoeuvre around the rubble, abandoned cars lined the streets and Lydia could see the remains of many corpses lining the streets.  
“It looks like nobody has been here for years” she muttered  
“You're probably right.” Allison replied “Aside from people passing through, nobody has probably been here since the bombs dropped”  
Lydia gaped openly out of her own window at the sights of houses reduced to rubble, cars wrapped around lampposts, suitcases and clothes lined the streets, she realised with a start that the owners of the clothes were almost guaranteed to be dead, killed trying to escape the bombs, there were still a handful of buildings fully standing, but the majority were either a crumbled mess or looking like all it would take is a sharp gust of wind to send them crumbling to the ground  
“Are you okay?” Allison asked quietly  
Lydia nodded sharply and tore her gaze away from the window and stared down at the book in her lap “I'm fine” she replied. She waited for a few moments before she looked up again, only to find Allison watching her “You see things like this a lot, don't you?”  
“I've seen worse” Allison sighed, looking back out at the road ahead “Sometimes there are bodies that aren't completely decomposed because they've thought It was safe in a town and been killed by wolves or bandits...”  
Lydia watches as Allison's jaw tightens, eyes focused on the car in front of them and Lydia actually finds herself feeling a new-found sense of respect for Allison, Lydia has watched Allison deal with corpses at a close range, she drives across this wasteland of a country with her team, her family and she just takes it. The fact that Allison is generally on her own most of the time only adds to the feelings  
“Where are we going to go?” Lydia asked, eyeing the position of the sun, estimating only an hour or two of daylight left  
“I don't know, but Derek can figure that out, he takes the lead for a reason”  
Lydia nodded slowly and lifted her book once more, she couldn't even focus on the words on the page.  
  
  
Allison stared at the police station with muted disdain, she came to a stop beside Danny's car and took the key from the ignition, it looked virtually untouched and would be fortified enough to sustain significant damage if they came under attack from bandits  
“Is it too optimistic to hope for a shower?” Lydia asked  
“Maybe, yeah” Allison replied, Lydia sighed heavily “But there should be beds”  
“Oh good” Lydia drawled “Well lets not keep everyone waiting” Lydia climbed out of the car, Allison followed suit, surprised to find Lydia moving towards the trunk, waiting for Allison. Allison walked around and opened the trunk, reaching for her bag of clothes and weapons, Lydia taking her own and walking side by side to catch up to the rest of the team  
  
  
Once Derek and some of the others have done a scan of the station and announced it was safe and empty, Allison had headed straight down to the locker room, toolbox in hand and promptly set to work fixing the showers. It proved to be a good enough distraction for an hour, nobody, not even Lydia or Derek tried to find her while she worked, she knew Lydia was being watched by Danny. Stiles and Scott were probably near by too. Allison hadn't missed how they still hadn't called Lydia by name, but Danny seemed to be getting on with her well enough despite everything.  
“What's up Argent?”  
Allison turned to the source of the voice and suppressed a sigh at the sight of Erica in the doorway  
“I thought we agreed not to call me that while Lydia was around us” Allison muttered, reaching for her wrench  
“She's with Stiles and Danny, Stiles is making dinner”  
“Great, what are we having?”  
“Thanks to the stuff you found in that car and what he found in the motel, we've got beef and rice _and_ fruit cocktail for dessert”  
“Wow. Lucky us” Allison replied  
“Okay so what's wrong? Why are you hiding here?”  
“I'm not _hiding_ ” Allison rolled her eyes “I'm trying to fix the showers”  
Erica scoffed “Why?”  
“Because Erica, this may be a shock to you but despite the lack of civilisation personal hygiene is still a thing” Allison mumbled, earning a gentle slap at the back of her head for her trouble  
“And you call me the asshole”  
Allison laughed and settled back on her heels and turned back to the blonde “So what brings you here?”  
“Dinner will be done soon” Erica shrugged “I've been sent to find you”  
“Oh” Allison stood upright “Well I think I'm done anyway” she stepped to the side and turned the shower on, grinning when water began to pour out  
Erica held her hand under the water and frowned “It's cold, Argent”  
“Hey, I’m not a miracle worker” Allison dropped her wrench into the box “We have running water, that's something, right?”  
“Okay, good point” Erica agreed, turning the shower off and following Allison out of the lockeroom “But you know what we should do tomorrow?”  
“What?” Allison asked, she could hear Stiles' laughter down the hallway  
“Shopping”  
“Shopping?” Allison repeated  
“Okay, stealing, same thing” Erica shrugged “I need some new clothes”  
Allison hummed “Same, actually”  
“What? Need more plain v-necks t-shirts?” Lydia asked, sliding her book into her bag as Allison and Erica entered the room  
“Considering I bled all over one of them, yeah” Allison replied. Lydia rolled her eyes “Besides, I think you could do with clothes other than skirts, dresses and heels...”   
“These are a tiny heel I’ll have you know” Lydia protested   
“Yeah well you'll thank me for some flat boots when we're running for our lives” Allison shot back, she couldn't help but notice there was an absence of malice in her voice and the way Lydia's eyes were sparkling, there was nothing behind her own words either   
“Why would I be doing any running? Aren't you supposed to be driving me across the country?” Lydia planted her hands on her hips  
“Well, you've gotta be prepared for any situation, who knows what lies around the corner” Allison replied   
“Ladies, please” Stiles stepped between them “Dinner is ready”  
Lydia and Allison shared a look and relaxed  
“So where have you been hiding?” Lydia asked  
“She was fixing the showers” Erica supplied  
“And?”  
“They work, but it's cold water” Allison explained, following Stiles and accepting the bowl of food he offers   
“Better than nothing I guess” Lydia sighed, taking a bowl of her own and settling beside Allison. The pair eat in silence, happy to let Stiles fill the silence with his obscure stories. Allison couldn't help but wonder where Derek was, but she saw Scott slip out of the room with a bowl of food and return empty handed five minutes later, so at least she knows he's eating.   
Allison is just beginning to eat her bowl of fruit cocktail when Lydia nudges her shoulder  
“Thank you”  
Allison hums non-committally and continues to eat

  
“So where are you sleeping tonight?” Lydia hears Erica asks, it takes her a few moments to realise that the blonde is addressing Lydia  
“What?” Lydia frowns, gathering her stuff together, she had been about to go and hit the shower, she wasn't looking forward to the cold water but she was thankful to Allison for taking the time and effort to get running water in the first place  
“Where are you sleeping?” Erica asks again  
“Oh... Wherever Allison is, I guess” Lydia replied, the girl in question had disappeared immediately after dinner and as far as Lydia could tell nobody knew where she was, either that or they didn't car. And okay, that probably wasn't the best thing to say if the grin on Erica's face was anything to go by  
“You really like her, don't you?”   
Lydia scoffed “Far from it, I’m your captive remember?”  
“Sure, sure, so there's _nothing_ there? No attraction?”  
“Allison is hot, you'd be blind to miss that-” Erica made a sound of agreement “But I’m just trying to make her uncomfortable, and If I get to fuck her, it's a bonus”  
“So you don't like her at all? There's no... Romantic feelings there?” Erica asked, Lydia could see Boyd, Isaac, Stiles and Danny obviously eavesdropping on their conversation   
“No, nothing” Lydia replied  
“Huh” Erica nodded slowly, moving closer “You're still wearing her jacket” 

 

Allison eyes the stack of blankets with a weary eye, the door had been locked (and easily opened with a well placed kick) the shelves were lined with all sorts of equipment, pepper spray, flare guns and flares among its contents. Allison grabbed the blanket from the top of the stack, the murky green colour was nothing special and it felt a little scratchy, but at least it would be something warm to sleep under, they could even take the blankets with them as to avoid a repeat of the incident the night before. Allison grabbed a pillow from the back of the storeroom and left the room, nudging the door closed with her hip and walking back into the main office area, there were four desks placed around the room with two holding cells against the fourth wall, the keys to the cells had been on the desk closest to the cells, right beside a mug reading '#1 dad'  
Allison threw the pillow down onto the bed in the corner of the cell, pushing her bags against the wall with her  
"You know there are plenty of beds in the on call room, right?"  
Allison busied herself with unfolding and arranging the blanket "communal sleeping isn't really my style, you know that, Derek" Allison replied "besides, where are you sleeping?" She asked, turning to face the man  
Derek hesitated for a moment "the sheriffs office"  
Allison resisted the urge to roll her eyes, of course he was. Allison stepped out of the cell slowly, she had been expecting Derek to make an appearance at some point but she had been hoping for it to happen later on, she wasn't looking forward to whatever Derek has been thinking about all day  
"What time do you need me on watch?" Allison asked, growing anxious at the growing silence  
"There's no need, Danny and Stiles hooked up the portable generator, something about trip wires and cameras... I didn't really understand but we won't need to take shifts patrolling"  
"That's... Really fucking convenient" Allison mumbled "can we take it with us?"  
"They're already trying to figure out a way to dismantle the system and bring it with us..." Derek trailed off, confusion in his eyes, Allison resisted the urge to laugh, leader or not, Derek and technology didn't go hand in hand very well, he could build an entire car but God forbid he be given a new comms device  
"Where's the package?" Derek asked  
"Lydia" Allison corrected "and I don't know, she's either with Danny or having a shower" she added with a shrug, trying to not think about Lydia in the shower, with cold water... And okay Derek is giving her a weird look now "why?" Allison asked  
"You're trusting her too much" Derek replied, he leans back against the desk, hand pushing the mug slightly "she tried to kill you yesterday"  
"That was yesterday, this is today"  
Derek sighed "you know this is what she wants, she's going to make you let your guard down and screw you over. I know she's attractive but-"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa" Allison held a hand up "you need to back the fuck up" Derek raised his eyebrows in alarm "one, I told you, she was scared, any one of us would do the exact same thing in her situation. Two, don't reduce her to just a pretty face, she's so much more than that and if you took a chance to speak to her like a fucking human instead of a package then maybe you'd see that"  
"That isn't my job Allison" Derek replied quickly "my job is to deliver her and the last time I checked that was your job too. _Not_ making out with her"  
"I knew it! That's what this is about isn't it? She kissed me Derek, it happened"  
"Twice. It's happened twice"  
"It doesn't mean anything!"  
"You're defending her! You keep justifying her actions"  
Allison turned away from Derek for a moment to compose herself "what are you so afraid of Derek?"  
"That she's going to kill you, that she's going to convince you to let her go..."  
"And what? She's somehow going to convince me to runaway with her and drive across the wasteland with our hair in the wind?" Allison asked, the way in which Derek held his silence and apprehensively met her gaze was all the answer she needed "Oh my God. Derek!" Allison exclaimed "I'm not made of glass! Do you think I'm so fragile that she could coerce me into leaving my friends and family? That I would just leave you alone?”  
“...Allison”  
“That I could just run away and act like Peter wouldn't send out a group of people just to kill me? You know how much Deucalion wants to put a bullet through my head” Allison spat  
“Allison-”  
“I don't like this, I don't like that we're taking this girl to Peter and we're not even questioning why and I refuse to accept that I’m the only one who is wondering why we have her. But I know my place, I know what I have to do so you can relax Derek, I’m not running away”  
“Do you love her?”   
Allison gave a disbelieving laugh “It's been _three_ days Derek”  
Derek pursed his lips as Allison sighed, running a hand over her hair “I'm sorry” He said after a while   
“It's fine”   
“...Goodnight, Allison”  
“Night, Der” Allison replied. She waited for Derek to retreat from the room before she dropped down onto the edge of the bed, her head in her hands. She couldn't be the only one to see Lydia as a person and not a package to be delivered, can she? Surely the rest of her team are at least questioning it.   
Allison cuts her train of thought, she can't deal with this, not right now. It's impossible for her to stop seeing Lydia as a person, she can't just ignore that. But she can't let herself get involved, she can't keep up the banter with her, Derek is right, no matter what happens, Lydia is still going to Peter and she can't keep arguing with herself, with her team, over that. It's happening and she doesn't know why and Lydia won't tell her anything so Allison needs to just accept it and get on with it. She hears footsteps into the room and she sighs again  
“I'm not in the mood Derek”  
“I'll be sure to tell him”  
Allison's head shot up to the girl standing just outside the cell door “Lydia?”  
“Of course” Lydia replied, her hair was wet and she was dressed in fresh clothes, Allison's jacket folded and held against her chest  
“What are you doing here?” Allison asked  
Lydia walked around and draped Allison's jacket over the back of a chair “I came to sleep”  
Allison raised an eyebrow, that would have been a perfect opportunity for Lydia to suggest hooking up, she doesn't know whether to be concerned or not by the whole thing  
“You know there are plenty of other places to sleep, right?” Allison didn't shift from her spot on the bed  
“Well I figured that because I’m your prisoner the best place for me would be to be in the cells” Lydia shrugged, she eyes the bed, it's only a single and Allison wasn't sure it was large enough for herself on her own and Lydia was clearly intending to share   
“That's very thoughtful of you” Allison replied “You know there's another cell though right?”  
“That one doesn't have a blanket or a pillow”  
“Then go get one, they're in the storeroom”  
“Yeah that's not happening” Lydia sat on the bed beside Allison and toed off her shoes “You could go and set up in the other cell”  
“Fuck off, I was here first”  
Lydia smiled “Looks like we're both staying then” She began to climb up onto the bed, Allison caught her by the elbow quickly, halting her, Lydia raised an eyebrow in confusion as Allison pulled her boots off and lay on the bed, back against the wall “What? Did you want to be the big spoon?” Lydia asked  
Allison laughed under her breath “So you don't get any ideas about trying to slash my throat again”  
“Please, I like this shirt, I don't want your blood all over it thank you” Lydia rolled her eyes, she lies down on the bed and pulls the blanket up over her, Allison huffed and grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled so it was at least covering her a little, as a result the mere inch of space between them disappeared as Lydia shuffled back into her  
“Feel free to cuddle, whatever you're into” and Allison couldn't see her face but she was more than willing to bet Lydia was doing that smile again  
“I'm fine, thanks”  
Lydia hummed and pressed herself more securely into Allison. Allison sighed into the pillow before resigning on glaring at the back of Lydia's head until she eventually fell asleep

 

When Lydia wakes she isn't entirely surprised to find the bed empty. What she is surprised at however, is that she managed to wake up at dawn without being forced awake. She hates it. Lydia yawned as she pushed herself up on one arm and swept her hair from her face, she scanned the room, relieved to find the cell door still unlocked and Allison's bags by the bed shows that she hasn't gone too far. Lydia got up from the bed and stretched as she walked across to where she had left her bag by the desk the night before. Lydia rummages through the bag and pulls out a pale blue blouse and a black skirt, she changes into the skirt quirky and leaves the blouse on top of Allison's leather jacket as she peels off her shirt and drops it into the bag. Lydia's hand brushes over the scars on her side and she sighs, it's mostly healed by now but the scarring is still fresh and raised, Lydia frowned at the scars and began to reach for her shirt  
“How did you get that?”  
“Allison!” Lydia clutched the shirt to her chest “When did you-”  
“How did you get that?” Allison asked again, walking closer, there was a muted anger in her eyes, Lydia considered lying, she could lie somehow, but Allison wouldn't believe her, she can tell immediately that Allison won't believe her. The girl has seen far too many bites over her time to not know what she's already looking at.  
But Lydia thinks this might be the first time Allison has seen a fully healed scar that came from a bite  
“A wolf.. A wolf bit me” Lydia replied quietly, swallowing when Allison's hands clenched  
“When?”  
“Two months ago”  
“You're not bonded”  
“No”  
“But you should be dead” Allison stepped closer, eyes fixated on the scar  
“I never got infected...”  
“That's not what I mean” Allison spoke through gritted teeth “Why didn't they shoot you when they found out you were bitten? They shoot everyone. It doesn't matter who they are. If they're bitten they're put down”  
“I managed to hide it... For a few days, I stitched it up myself. They found me in the lab a week later doing tests on myself. The virus never took, it never-” Lydia shook her head. Allison looked like she was about to throttle something, her entire body was practically trembling from how tense she was. Lydia couldn't help but take a step back from the girl. Something flashed behind Allison's eyes, softening for only a moment  
“That's why we have you, isn't it?” Allison asked “Because of the bite?”  
“Yeah”  
“Why?”  
Lydia shrugged “Experiments, I guess... Lykaion is more equipped than Echidna”  
Allison's jaw quivered and Lydia saw a flash of grief in her eyes, grief that Lydia couldn't place, had no idea where the origin came from but as quick as Lydia saw it, it was gone again and the anger was back and Allison seriously looked like she was only a moment away from finding someone to kill  
“Fuck it” Lydia breathed before closing the distance between them and grabbing Allison by her shirt and pulling Allison's lips against her, if Allison wants to be angry then fine. Be angry, but let that anger out in the form of hot, unnecessary make out sessions, it's a hell of a lot healthier than watching Allison put her fist through a wall.  
Allison kisses her forcefully, one hand digging into the soft flesh of her waist, the other burying itself into Lydia's hair and keeping her in place. Allison breathes out sharply through her nose and kisses harder, teeth grazing against Lydia's lips. Lydia opens her mouth against Allison and that sets something off In Allison. She pushes Lydia up against the wall, Lydia's hands fell from Allison and Allison grabs her by the wrists and holds them up against the wall, continuing to bite and suck at Lydia's lips, briefly pulling away to bite at her neck and jaw, Lydia was coherent enough to notice that Allison didn't linger long enough to leave any marks, Lydia knows that if the tables were turned she wouldn't be so kind. Allison kisses like a whirlwind, enough to leave Lydia weak kneed and wanting more, but with Allison holding her hands above her as she is Lydia has no way of getting it Instead, Lydia hooks a leg around Allison and that seems to be all Allison needs to understand, she drops one of her hands, still holding Lydia with the other and grabs Lydia's leg, pulling it around her more securely, Lydia bites down on Allison's bottom lip, sucking on it as Allison's fingers dig into Lydia's thigh, just as it dips under her skirt. Allison's fingers are just brushing against her underwear when Allison breaks the kiss, turning her head towards the door, her hand moved away immediately and Lydia actually found herself make a sound of protest. Allison pulls Lydia away from the wall with the hand still around her wrists and grabs the blouse from the chair with the other before she shoves Lydia into the cell and turns her back on her  
“Alli- are you okay?” Lydia hears Danny ask  
“I'm fine” Allison grits out “What's wrong?”  
“Nothing, it's just... We have breakfast cooking and then we're going shopping at Erica's insistence”  
Allison manages a laugh and steps out of Lydia's sight. Lydia sighs under her breath and slides the shirt on  
“Of course she does” Allison replied  
“Allison, are you sure you're okay?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine” Allison's voice sounded forced, like she was struggling to find her voice  
“...Is it because of Jackson?” she hears Danny ask in a small voice  
There's a long pause followed by a sniff and Lydia wishes she knew who it was “Yeah” Allison replied “Yeah, kinda” Lydia frowns, who the fuck is Jackson?  
“I miss him too Alli” Danny muttered, Lydia leant against the wall and continued to fasten her shirt, she wonders if Allison has forgetting she's there  
“I want to smash something” Allison replied  
Danny laughed “I'll have Stiles get the bat”  
“Thank you”  
“Breakfast is in ten”  
“Okay”  
Lydia hears footsteps and Allison comes back into view before Danny speaks up again “Allison?”  
Allison turns back to where Danny is stood “Yeah?”  
“Try to talk to someone, Stiles has helped me a lot, maybe she could help you?” he suggested  
Lydia watched Allison stiffen again, eyes flickering in her direction “Thanks Danny”  
Allison turned away and places her palms on the desk  
“Who's Jackson?” Lydia asked. Allison's hands clenched into fists and in one swift movement she sweeps the entire contents of the desk to the ground, mug and computer smashing. Allison steps back and kicks the desk. She stares at it for a moment, chest heaving and knuckles white. She turns towards Lydia and walks past her into the cell and grabs her bags. On her way out she stops in front of Lydia  
“Someone who didn't deserve to die” she replied, Allison took a few steps before she stopped and gave Lydia a once over “You missed a button” she added before walking from the room, leaving Lydia alone and even more confused than she had been five minutes ago  


Allison appreciates the effort, but Stiles is awful at making coffee and it looks more like mud than anything else, to his credit, Stiles doesn't look offended when she not too discreetly pushes it away. She doesn't need to be all twitchy from the caffeine when she's feeling as she does right now and it's clear that everyone has picked up on her mood if the wide berth everyone is currently giving her is anything to go by  
She just wants to be left alone. And smash things, violence would help  
Allison held her head in her hands and sighed to herself, she had kissed Lydia. Again. And had Danny not shown up when he had she's pretty sure she would have done a hell of a lot more  
Lydia had been bitten  
She was also immune  
Peter wanted her to do experiments and Allison was going to let that happen. She was driving Lydia to her death and Allison could no longer find fault with Lydia trying to escape  
Allison imagines that there isn't one person in the room who would have done the exact same thing in her situation, the steady chatter falls silent and Allison looks up to see Lydia standing in the doorway, looking unsure  
"Good morning!" Stiles greeted "do you like eggs? We have eggs and bacon. Don't touch the coffee though"  
"For the love of God nobody drink the coffee" Erica mumbled, Allison glanced at the blonde, she looked pale and a moment away from throwing up, Boyd was rubbing her back sympathetically  
"Look, good coffee is hard to come by and- you know, I'm not even a cook, why did I get stuck with this job?" Stiles threw his hands up and drifted back over to his improvised kitchen "I live for the day we can get back to a motel, or even better, home" he mumbles under his breath. Allison keeps an eye on Lydia, watches how Lydia hesitates for a moment and begin to walk over to an empty seat across the room, only to smoothly double back when Derek walks in  
Lydia sits down on the ground beside Allison, almost knocking over her mug of rapidly cooling sludge. Stiles reappears a moment later, paper plate of food for Lydia, Allison had already eaten by the time the redhead had shown up and Allison kept her gaze ahead. She could feel eyes on her constantly and could only assume they were imagining scenarios that would have caused her sudden mood shift. Only Danny really had an idea about what she was thinking, but even that was only a small understanding  
They never got to grieve, they almost missed his fucking funeral by cleaning up the wolves surrounding the compound. They had left the next day, there was no time to fucking grieve  
And now there was Lydia who by all rights should have been shot as soon as she had been found out and it wasn't fucking fair  
A slice of bacon was shoved under her nose, Allison flinched at the movement and then turned to look questioningly at Lydia  
"It's too greasy for me" Lydia shrugs, Allison sniffs and takes the slice from her hand  
"So..." Stiles drawled "are we going to leave our cars here or drive around town or what?" He asked  
"Drive around town is good, we can make a quick escape if something happens then" Danny replied  
Allison watched them all talk as she chewed on her slice of bacon, she caught Derek staring between herself and Lydia, clearly thinking Lydia is the cause, maybe he can tell something nearly happened between them  
Lydia nudged her shoulder gently  
"You're a good kisser when you're angry" she spoke under her breath, quiet enough that Allison had to strain to hear her  
"Lydia, don't"  
"I think you bruised my thigh"  
Allison ignored her in favour of listening to Erica protest that she isn't that sick, she's just cursing Stiles' coffee to the pits of hell, Allison likes to call this karma for all the times Erica has fucked with her the past few days  
"So it's settled" Derek spoke up "we take the cars with us, find some stores and split up, stay within range of the comms so we can make a quick escape if anything goes wrong"  
"Sounds good" Isaac replied "what are the teams?"  
"Allison, you take Scott, Stiles, Isaac and Danny. I'll take Boyd, Erica and her-"  
"No" Allison replied  
"What?" Derek asked  
"Lydia stays with me. You take Isaac" Isaac and Scott both opened their mouths to protest, Derek held up a hand to cut them off  
"I said she comes with me" Derek replied  
"And I said _no_ "  
"My orders-"  
"Means fuck all. Peter _ordered_ me to be in control of Lydia. You lead this team, I don't dispute that. But she is my responsibility and she does not leave my side" Allison snapped, getting to her feet "okay?"  
"Fine" Derek replied  
"Good" Allison grabbed her bag "come on guys, sooner we get out of this town the better"  
She didn't look back to see if she was being followed or not

 

Lydia watched Allison walk through the aisles, the sign of the store had fallen off, as well as part of the structure, Lydia had been proud to be able to climb over all of the rubble to make it into the store. Stiles and Scott seem to be having the time of their lives racing carts down the aisles, crashing into mannequins and sending rails of clothing everywhere  
"Here" Allison throws a pair of jeans at her  
"Yeah... No thanks"  
Allison rolled her eyes "you need more than those skirts"  
Lydia smiled "I didn't hear you complaining earlier"  
" _Stop_ " Allison replied  
"What is your problem?" Lydia asked  
"I'm not talking about this" Allison shook her head "I'm going to get more clothes"  
"Sure, get some more plain coloured v-necks" Lydia dismissed with a wave of her hand, using the other to set the jeans down. Honestly, she doesn't mind the v-necks, they work wonders for Allison, the way she'd stretch and the shirt would ride up, exposing hipbones and part of her stomach. It's entirely too unfair that someone as annoying as Allison could be this attractive and look that good in pants that tight  
Lydia huffs and watches Allison disappear.  
At least she is with Allison, she could have easily ended up stuck with Derek and Lydia really, really doesn't want that. She can tell that Derek thinks Allison's current mood is her fault and okay, maybe it is a little. But Lydia doesn't know _how_ it's her fault. She would have understood if Lydia had been infected, if Lydia was at risk of turning rabid and causing harm to Allison or her team then sure. But Lydia is immune, she isn't dangerous. But then again as far as Lydia is aware there's never been another known human to be infected and maybe that's scary to Allison, people are always afraid of the unknown  
But then they had kissed and _holy shit_ that had been one hell of a kiss, she hadn't been lying when she told Allison she had left marks. She hadn't been expecting Allison to take charge quite like she had earlier, Lydia really wouldn't mind trying to bring that side of Allison out again.  
Lydia caught sight of Danny looking at a rack of sweaters and decided to interrogate him about the girls issues, Scott or Stiles would probably be better options, they are Allison's adopted brothers after all, but they still seem to be so hesitant around her, Danny seems extremely comfortable around her though that's probably down to his personality. Lydia moves closer and busies herself with looking through a set of shirts that are neither her size or style, she finally finds her words when she sees a mannequin head sail through the air and bounce a few times before rolling to a stop by Lydia's feet, even the mannequin looks alarmed.  
A moment later Stiles comes running out of an aisle, looking around with a confused expression. His eyes lock onto Lydia and begins to walk closer  
"Have you seen a mannequin head?" He asked, Lydia frowned and gestured down at the object by her feet "oh! Awesome!" Stiles jogged towards her and scooped the head up into his hands "Alli! I found it!"  
Lydia looked past Stiles and saw Allison step out of an aisle with what looked like a mannequins leg in one hand. Stiles moved closer to Allison and threw the head. In a smooth moment Allison shifted her stance and swung the leg, sending the head flying in the opposite direction, they both headed off after it  
"She's... Bad at dealing with emotions" Danny said  
Lydia scoffed "that's one way to put it"  
"We don't get time to process, we're always on the move and we can't let ourselves be distracted, people get hurt if we're distracted"  
"You seem okay, the rest of your team seen fine" Lydia pointed out, she frowned "except for your leader, but I think that's just his face"  
"That is just his face" Danny nodded "And I'll let you in on a secret, you don't spend enough time with the rest of us to see how we deal with things"  
"This is the first time I've seen Allison.... Emote really, if you can call it that"  
"Anger is her default" Danny agreed  
"So I've noticed" Lydia replied, from what she's learnt about Allison, it's that if there isn't a door she uses her boot. The girl in question comes back into view, she throws the mannequin leg to the side "what are you doing?" Lydia asked  
"This isn't working out" Allison replied  
"We're breaking out the baseball bat" Stiles explained  
"Okay, but why do you still have the mannequin head?" Danny asked  
Allison and Stiles shared a look and both glanced down at the head in Stiles' hands   
"We had an idea that involves a small amount of explosions" Stiles shrugged  
"Bitches won't see what's coming" Allison added. They both walked past Lydia and Danny and made their way over the rubble and outside  
"...What are they doing?" Lydia turned to Danny  
Danny smiled "you're about to see how we unwind"

 

Allison slams the trunk shut and lifts the bag filled with weapons, walking around and throwing it onto the back seat. They'd be driving through a city today, the last thing Allison needs is to be caught off guard  
"Alli, catch" Stiles called, she turned and lifted her hand, catching the bat Stiles had thrown at her, wielding a bat of his own. "So, who's the unlucky target?" He asked. Allison looked around at the cars along the street, she pointed the bat at a white SUV  
"That one" Allison replied. She crossed the street, flipping the bat in her hand before catching it and swinging, sending the side mirror sailing through the air  
"So what did she do?" Stiles asked, taking a swing at the side of the car. Allison paused in her attempts of smashing the rear view window  
" _Lydia_ didn't do anything" Allison replied, she drove the bat into the window a few more times  
"Then what's gotten you all pouty?"  
"Okay so first of all, I don't pout" Allison swung once more, the window shattered with a satisfying sound  
"Of course you do" Stiles rested the bat against his shoulder "it makes you look like a puppy, it's adorable"  
"Don't make me kick your ass" Allison growled, brandishing the bow threateningly  
"Right, right. Sorry. So if it's not her then what is it?"  
"I don't want to talk about my feelings" Allison swung at the car again "I want to hit things until I stop caring"  
"Is Derek being a dick again?"  
"Just because I call her by her name and she kissed me three times doesn't mean I'm going to betray everyone!" Allison snapped  
"Wait," Stiles froze " _Three_ times??"  
Fuck  
Allison sighed "there may have been an angry make out session before breakfast"  
"And how was that?"  
"Really fucking hot, but that's not the point!"  
"Okay but making out with our prisoner is probably an incredibly bad idea" Stiles frowned  
"No, it's definitely a bad idea" Allison corrected "I've made a lot of bad decisions-"  
"Like that one time you got shot" Stiles pointed out  
"That wasn't my fault!" Allison exclaimed. Okay, it had been a little her fault, she'd slipped up and had endangered her entire team. She'd taken two bullets to the right shoulder. Jackson had been the one to find and save her. The memory only made Allison fill with fresh grief, she swung her bat a few more times, knocking out the lights with a frustrated yell. Stiles picked up on this and his brow furrowed  
"You miss him?"  
"He's my best friend" Allison paused mid swing "was. He was my best friend" Allison sighed and looked up at Stiles "I fucking miss him Stiles. He shouldn't have died like that. He shouldn't have left me, shouldn't have left Danny" and Allison can't help but regret the words as soon as she says them. Stiles really likes Danny, and she has noticed them bonding and Danny has smiled more since Jackson died but she knows he's missing Jackson so much. They all are but Allison can't help but feel like she's handling it all terribly. She loves her team so much, loves her brothers but she just always finds herself being the loner, which is probably at least sixty percent down to the fact that she'll end up killing most of them with prolonged exposure but the other forty is simply down to them having people more important than her, Derek being the exception but he likes being alone more than Allison does  
"Danny said I should talk to Lydia about it" Allison says, dropping her voice when the girl in question appears on the street opposite, Danny and Scott stood nearby  
"Maybe he's right" Stiles replied, hitting the car a few times himself, clearly making sure to mask their talk "why don't you?"  
"The same reason nobody is using her name" Allison replied "Derek thinks she's going to try and manipulate me into letting her escape or something"  
"Derek's a dick, it's why he's not my brother"  
"No," Allison interrupted with a laugh "the reason you can't see him as a brother is because you had a crush on him for like ten years"  
"Yeah, well he's still a dick"  
"Yeah, he is" Allison agreed  
"But he has a point" Stiles sighed "we're taking her to Peter for a reason"  
Allison brought the bat down onto the hood of the car "yeah I know" she repeated the action a few more times, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been picturing Peter Hale's face, by the time she stops her arms are burning and Stiles looks like he's about to stop her before she brakes the bat or tears a muscle  
"Do you know why we're transporting her?" Stiles asked  
"No" Allison lied, punctuating the statement with another hit to the car "No, she hasn't said" Allison is about to bring the bat down, Stiles' hand reaches out to grab her wrist and stills her  
"I think this car has had enough, don't you?" He asks  
"I'm not done" Allison frowned  
Stiles led her back across the street to a green car "beat the shit out of this one"  
"Sorry to interrupt but _how_ is this productive?" Lydia asked  
"Don't knock it till you've tried it" Allison replied "it's _incredibly_ therapeutic"  
Lydia looks unimpressed by the idea "if you say so"  
Allison swings and connects with the wind shield, the five of them leap away from the car when the alarm goes off, Allison throws the bat against the car and moves back, startled  
"Allison! Shut it off!" Stiles yelled  
"What the _hell_ is going on?!" Derek roared, storming out of a building at the end of the street, the fact that his voice managed to carry so far and be clearly heard over the alarm is nothing but a testament to how pissed he is right now  
"I can explain?" Allison yelled back, behind Derek, Erica was openly cackling  
Derek's glare only intensified "we're leaving. Now"  
"But-"  
"This isn't up for discussion" he replied, already opening the door to his car  
"What a dick" Stiles mumbled, picking up the bat Allison had thrown  
"What do I do Stiles?"  
"Talk to her?" Stiles suggested "Danny seems to think it's a good idea-"  
"And Danny is always right?"  
"Not always, but he's generally got a good grip on these things" Stiles shrugged  
"Are you two done?" Danny asked  
"Yeah" Allison nodded "come on Lydia"

 

They've been driving in silence for the last two hours, Allison hasn't even taken her eyes off of the road since they'd left the town. The only time the comm had come to life was so Derek could tell them that they would reach the city soon, the news had only added a line of tension to Allison's expression. Lydia considered reading her book, maybe even trying her luck at making sense of the journals Allison had found in the Vox's car, from the diagrams hastily sketched throughout suggested that maybe what they're handling may actually be lab reports of some kind  
If they are lab reports then that means the rebels are doing research of their own, what they're researching however, Lydia doesn't know, but regardless of what it is, Lydia knows it can't be good. She should probably voice her theories but knows that the last thing either of them needs is Allison to be even more on edge then she already is and there are not enough cars in America for her to smash. Not to mention that Allison is still clearly hung up on this Jackson guy  
"Was Jackson your boyfriend?" Lydia asked, Allison laughed suddenly and Lydia couldn't help but think that the girl has finally lost it  
"God no" Allison replied, her gaze dropped slightly "no, he was with Danny"  
"But you loved him?"  
"I've never been in love, remember?" Allison glanced at her briefly, she sighed and looked back out to the road "he was my best friend"  
"So why are you having such a meltdown over him? He's dead, isn't he?" Lydia asked breezily, again not missing how Allison's grip tightened on the steering wheel  
"Yeah, he's dead"  
"How?"  
"He was bitten"  
Lydia nodded, so that explained her reaction when Allison had seen her bite marks, it almost explains her reaction, but Lydia can tell there's more to it, unless Allison really is so bad at dealing with her emotions that something so small could set her off so much  
"Did he go rabid?"  
Allison's jaw tensed "didn't get a chance to, they put a bullet through him"  
"And what? You're pissed at me because they didn't kill me like they did with your best friend forever?" Lydia asked, even to her own ears she sounds malicious. Allison veers off the road suddenly, Lydia grabbed onto the handle of the car for support as Allison slams the brakes on  
 _"Allison? Are you okay?"_ Danny's voice came over the comm  
 _"What happened?”_ Derek asked  
Allison reached over to flick the switch on the comm " I'm fine, just refuelling. We'll catch up, don't worry "  
 _"You sure?”_ Boyd asked _"I can see you up ahead, we can wait"  
_ "it's fine " Allison sighed, "I'll only take five minutes"  
 _"....Don't take too long"_ Derek replied, Lydia was sure she heard Erica snort as Allison cuts the connection

Allison climbs out of the car and Lydia takes advantage of the moment to unbuckle her seatbelt and lean over to Allison's side to check the dashboard, the fuel gauge was at half way, but that didn't stop Allison from walking around the car with a red jerry can at hand. Lydia gets out of the car and walked around to watch Allison slowly fill the car, she leans against the car and barely two minutes pass before Boyd's car drives past and Lydia is pretty sure she heard Erica yell something, though the words are lost over the sound of the engine  
Lydia watches the car drive away and hears Allison move around to the trunk of the car and it all becomes clear that Allison had only done claimed to need to refuel so she could talk freely  
Didn't want to jeopardise her 'no crash' record  
Allison slammed the trunk shut, and Lydia turned to face her, ready for whatever Allison is going to say or do  
"You want to know why I'm pissed?" Allison asked "I'm pissed because my fucking best friend was gunned down the second they saw the bite, not a head shot Lydia. He didn't get an execution. He was shot six fucking times in the chest, he didn't even fucking die straight away, the stubborn son of a bitch actually held on" Allison snapped, kicking at the ground "we watched our best friend die and watched his body get taken away and then we were given orders to hunt and kill the pack of wolves around the compound. It took so long we almost missed the funeral. The next day we were sent out to get you"  
Lydia pushed away from the car and walked closer to Allison, taking a defensive stance  
"Well I'm sorry that I got in the way of your little pity party but I don't know if you've noticed at all, but I don't exactly want to be here either" in front of her, Allison's fists are clenched by her side, eyes focused solely on Lydia "is that why you hate me? Because he's dead and I'm not?"  
"No." Allison replied "I hate you because despite all this shit, despite everything that's happening I can't stop fucking thinking about kissing you and feeling you move under my hands. I hate you because you're too fucking distracting and this is going to end up getting somebody killed"  
"Why haven't you told Derek about my bite?" Lydia asked, the question obviously catching Allison off guard  
Allison blinked "what?"  
Lydia stepped around Allison, their eyes never leaving each others as Lydia leans against the trunk, palms flat against the metal "Why haven't you told him? If he knew he'd separate us and he wouldn't let you stop him. So If you think I'm such a distraction to you, why haven't you told him?"  
Allison steps closer, Lydia parts her thighs and leans back as Allison moves fully into her space, hands braced on either side of Lydia's thighs, Allison's face just centimetres from her own  
"Do you want me to?" Allison asked  
Lydia smiles wide "No"  
"What do you want Lydia?"  
"Have I been speaking Latin this entire time?" Lydia asked, she grabbed one of Allison's hands and placed it on her thigh, right where her skirt cut off before she braced her hands on the car once more and leant back slightly "I want you to fuck me on the trunk of your car"  
And just like that, Allison makes a move. She grabs the back of Lydia's neck and kisses her, fingers pressing and keeping her in place, Lydia spreads her hips further, silently encouraging Allison on. But Allison clearly had other had other things in mind as she sucks on Lydia's tongue, her hand moving from Lydia's neck down to cup one of her breasts. Lydia moans into Allison's mouth and this is great, Allison's a good kisser but she needs _more_. Lydia grabs Allison by the hem of her jeans and pulls her closer and Lydia hears Allison's knees hit against the bumper of the car, Allison broke the kiss to hiss out a curse  
"Are you going to do something or just keep your have on my thigh? I'm not a nun you know"  
"Don't I know it" Allison mumbled, Lydia trailed her hand up Allison's stomach  
"Holy shit" Lydia breathed "Are those abs?" Lydia began to sit up, intent on finally getting a chance to inspect this. Allison moved a hand to Lydia's shoulder and push her back down against the car  
"Do you want to keep talking?" Allison asked she moved to the side to bite on Lydia's ear, her hand moved further along Lydia's thigh, she pulled away to blow against Lydia's ear as her fingers brush up against her, drawing a gasp from Lydia, her hips twitching involuntarily "or do you want me to fuck you?"  
"What? Do you want to hear me beg Allison? Is that what you want?" Lydia smirked and she really wants to avoid begging, doesn't want to give Allison the satisfaction but she's getting impatient and she has no idea how long they have before Allison's team get worried and come back for them  
Allison thumbs over Lydia's clit, Lydia barely had time to arch into her before Allison moved her hand again, this time moving to hook her thumb into Lydia's underwear  
"I seem to remember you saying you wanted me to fuck you" Allison replied, her fingers dipping underneath the material "is that what you still want?" She pauses, eyes searching Lydia's, waiting for a reaction  
"Yes" Lydia huffed out "just get on with it already"  
Allison complied, sinking that first finger in, eyes still trained on Lydia, she curls her finger before adding a second, Lydia sucked in a breath and Allison paused, the pair stared at one another as they both silently acknowledged that this was happening, on the side of the road against Allison's God awful car but holy shit it was going to be worth it  
Allison kissed her again, teeth tugging on Lydia's lip, moving her fingers slowly, taking her time and drawing out the sensations, Lydia's breath stuttered when Allison's thumb brushed over her clit  
"You fucker" Lydia muttered, she felt Allison smirk against her lips, Allison brushed against her again, Lydia arched up, leg hooking around Allison and her hand fisting into Allison's shirt to keep her close. Allison began to fuck into Lydia faster, mouthing at her breasts through her shirt, Lydia's head fell back, biting her lip to keep from letting any sounds spill out. Lydia could feel herself building, getting closer  
 _"Allison, where are you?"_ the faint voice echoed from inside the car  
"Fuck" Allison growled, her movements stopping as she began to move away  
"Ignore it" Lydia replied, she refused to accept how wrecked her voice was  
Allison looked almost regretful as she moved back, letting her fingers slip from Lydia "good idea, I'll ignore my team so they can waste gas coming back here to find me fucking the prisoner on the trunk of my mustang" she wiped her fingers on Lydia's thigh before stepping away and making her way to the side of the car  
"Charming" Lydia replied, rolling her eyes and hopping off of the trunk of the car, she pulled up her underwear and smoothed out her skirt. She groaned in frustration and kicked the bumper of the car, she had been so close.  
She walked on shaky legs to her side of the car and climbed in, dropping into her seat with a huff  
"Did you kick my car?" Allison asked  
"I just missed out on an orgasm, excuse me for being a little frustrated" Lydia replied, shifting uncomfortably in her seat "are they sending out a search party?"  
"Aw, did I get you all worked up?" Allison smirked  
"Don't flatter yourself" Lydia fastened her seatbelt, ignoring how Allison rolled her eyes "it's just been a long time"  
Allison laughed and started the car "they aren't sending a search party, but we need to hurry" she glanced at Lydia "never hurt the car" she added  
"God" Lydia's head fell back against her seat "do you think about anything other than this stupid car?"  
Allison grinned, eyes forward as they began to drive "well now I'm thinking about how frustrated you are"  
"We're picking this up later, as soon as you can get us away you're finishing what you started"  
Allison laughed again, her expression growing serious a moment later as she reached over to turn up the music, Lydia watched her for a few moments before Allison speeds up suddenly, Lydia's hand grabs instinctively at the side of the car  
"What the fuck?" Lydia snapped "why are you driving like a maniac?"  
"The faster we catch up to them, the faster we can reach the city. The faster we get through the city, the faster we can get to a motel so I can 'finish what I started'" Allison replied "I could slow down though...."  
Lydia groaned again "I hate you"  
"I hate you too"

 

They had overtaken Boyd's car within minutes, it had taken a little while to get to the point where she could see Danny's car and she could only imagine how far ahead Derek was. Allison was too distracted by Lydia, she found herself glancing in the redheads direction every few minutes, watching the way Lydia would squirm slightly in her seat or rearrange her skirt  
It was entirely too satisfying to watch, if Allison had known this was going to be an effective way to get Lydia to shut up she would have done something sooner  
Allison bites on her lip as she focuses on the road once more, she hadn't intended to have sex with Lydia, she had just wanted to rant, Danny had told her to talk, she had tried to talk and then Lydia had to go and sit on the trunk with that stupid skirt and told Allison to fuck her  
She didn't regret it  
"You never answered me" Lydia spoke up a few minutes later  
"What?" Allison asked  
"You haven't told anybody about my scars"  
Allison hugged the steering wheel with her knees and pulled off her jacket "No"  
"Why?"  
"Because they treat you bad enough already, I don't need the added stress of them thinking you're going to turn rabid and kill us all"  
"Allison, that's so considerate" she saw Lydia clutched her chest mockingly "Good to know you care"  
"Like I said, I don't need the added stress"  
Lydia hummed thoughtfully "So is _that_ why you finally made a move? Because it was too stressful not to?"  
"Look, Lydia. I'm gonna be honest with you right now, the first time I saw you I thought you were beautiful"  
"You don't think I still look beautiful?" Lydia asked, feigning hurt  
"Oh you're still beautiful" Allison held Lydia's gaze "but you're also an asshole literally eighty percent of the time"  
"I was going to say ninety, but sure" Lydia shrugged  
"Anyway..." Allison continued "you're attractive, but my job is to deliver you to Peter so I can't develop an emotional attachment"  
"Who said anything about emotions?" Lydia scoffed "you're hot, I'm hot and while I hate you, from what I've experienced you are spectacular with your fingers, there's no emotional connection here but lust" Lydia gestured between them"Love is for the weak?" Allison smiled, repeating Lydia's words from the day before  
"Exactly" Lydia replied "and you don't strike me as the weak type"  
"Finally, something we can agree on" Allison laughed "so, fuck buddies?"  
Lydia raised an eyebrow "that requires actual fucking to happen Allison" Lydia pointed a finger at her "and we aren't 'buddies'"  
Allison sniffed "you come up with a better name for it then" she focused back on the road, could make out the city steadily approaching. They had stopped keeping track of the names of the ruins they drove through a long time ago, they all looked the same eventually anyway. Allison found it was easier to stop thinking about all of the previous inhabitants if she refused to give the cities a name  
Lydia had shifted forwards in her seat, staring at the city in awe and then quickly trying to conceal it when she caught Allison watching her  
"Not what you were expecting?" Allison asked  
"I didn't really have any expectations" Lydia replied, leaning back once more "do they all look like that?"  
"What? The cities? Pretty much, yeah"  
"That's depressing, no wonder you have issues"  
"Yes Lydia, because out of everything, it's the _scenery_ that would give me issues"  
 _"We have a problem"_ Derek spoke up through the comm  
"Oh shit" Allison muttered, she reached over and switched the device on  
 _"what's wrong?"_ Scott asked  
 _"Tire spikes"  
_ "Fuck, how many did you lose?" Allison asked, she pressed down on the accelerator  
 _"One, thankfully"_ Derek replied  
“ _we're only a few minutes away Derek, hang tight"_ Danny replied  
"Don't get any ideas about getting out of the car Derek" Allison replied, Derek huffed and she cut the communication, she accelerated more, the engine roared  
"What's the problem?" Lydia asked  
"Tire spike, it's a trap, bandits use them to take out the wheels so you can't escape, we keep spare tires but it's still dangerous when you're on your own changing a tire, you need to have someone covering you"  
Lydia made a thoughtful sound "you guys are very careful with this stuff, you always have plans an back up plans"  
"It's important, you need someone to have your back otherwise-"  
"Somebody gets hurt or dies?" Lydia asked  
Allison rolled her shoulder "That's the general gist of it, yeah" Allison switched gears and glanced back over to Lydia, who sighed  
"This better not delay our plans" she mumbled "I have plans for you"  
Allison's grip tightened on the steering wheel "good to know"

 

Allison keeps the engine running as she checked over her guns, Danny, Scott and Stiles were already there, positioned strategically around Derek as he changed his tire  
"Stay close to me, if you see anything remotely suspicious you tell me"  
Lydia nodded "do I get a weapon?"  
Allison gave a dry laugh "you're funny" she replied, climbing from the car, she waited for Lydia to get I of the car and meet her eyes, Allison tapped her nose "still haven't forgotten about it you know"  
Lydia rolled her eyes "of course you haven't"  
Allison walks over to Derek and leans against his car "how's it going?"  
"Nearly done"  
Allison nodded and looked around the road "where are the spikes?"  
"Stiles has claimed them as his own" Scott replied, Stiles gave her a thumbs up  
"Another invention?" Allison asked  
"Of course" Danny replied  
"The others are here" Stiles called  
"About time" Lydia mumbled under her breath  
"Uh-oh" Scott mumbled, Allison followed his gaze to an approaching pick up truck  
"Of course" Allison growled, she turned so she was facing the truck fully, aiming her pistol at the vehicle with one hand, with the other, she pushed Lydia behind her with the other  
"Oh yeah, fighting time" Erica grinned, coming to a stop beside Allison, shotgun at the ready  
"Easy, Erica" Derek mumbled "everybody just keep your guards up"  
"I'll just stand here" Lydia replied "unarmed... Defenceless..."  
"Lydia" Allison sighed "shut up"  
The car stopped a few feet away from Derek's car, a group of men climbed out, all pointing guns of their own, their clothes dirty and worn and Allison doesn't think she's ever seen so many people wear the exact same red and white flannel shirt  
"I think these are red necks" Allison hears Stiles whisper  
"Red what?" Danny replied  
"Just trust me"  
The driver of the car, a middle aged looking man with greying hair walks between them, hands held up in surrender  
"We don't mean you no harm, unless y'all here to cause trouble?" He said  
Derek didn't lower his gun as he held the mans gaze "we just want to pass through, my car hit some spikes”  
The man looks at the blown tire “Sorry 'bout that, we use them to keep out the bandits, this is our territory” he replied, the other men give murmurs of agreement  
“Territory? You aren't bandits?” Derek asked  
The man actually looked offended by Derek's words, “No we aren't, we're just travellers who got tired of... Well, travelling, so we set up down here and welcomed in other passer bys”  
“So you're a commune” Erica deduced  
“In a way” the man held his hand out “I'm Ray”  
Derek stared at his hand for a moment before taking it “Derek, this is my team”  
Allison's eyes scanned over the men only to find them doing the same thing to her own team, she caught one man with his hair pulled back into a greasy ponytail looking past her at Lydia, Allison shifted her stance slightly, positioning herself more securely in front of Lydia. She glared at greasy and adjusted her grip on her gun so it was aimed more at him  
“Well, it's getting late” Ray continued “If you want, you and your team are more than welcome to come and join us tonight”  
“We really need to be getting on our way” Derek replied  
“Are you sure? It's going to be getting dark soon and there are bandits nearby, they'll kill y'all if you go into their territory” the blonde man beside Ray spoke up  
“What do you propose?” Derek asked  
“Come up to our home, we have plenty of room, we'll show you a map of the city, help you plan a way out so you don't get into any more... uh, trouble” Ray glanced pointedly at the tire   
Allison wanted to laugh, she didn't trust this guy as far as she could throw him, there was something about this entire group of men that was off, they looked almost feral. Hungry.  
Their best bet would be to just politely turn them down, keep their guns on the men until they left   
Or a massive gunfight, both work  
Derek lowered his gun “Deal”  
Allison had to suppress the urge to hit him with the barrel of her pistol, her entire team were getting stupider everyday.   
Slowly, the rest of her team lowered their own weapons, she glanced at Erica as the blonde pointed her shotgun at the ground  
Allison huffed and followed suit   
“We'll take that wheel shall we?” Ray gestured to the tire  
“I appreciate that” Derek replied, “I'm practically finished”  
The greasy guy lifted the tire with ease and walked around to throw it into the back of the pick-up truck   
“Okay so y'all can just follow us and we can all settle down for dinner, the wife is a great cook, we just hunted some.... Great young meat” Ray smiled  
Allison narrowed her eyes at the man   
“We're ready when you are” Derek replied

  
“Jealous?” Lydia asked with a smirk once Allison had started to drive  
“Of what?” Allison replied  
“Ponytail guy” Lydia shrugged, “I saw you get all defensive when he looked at me”  
“He looked like he wanted to eat you” Allison muttered  
“You look like you want to eat me” Lydia pointed out  
Allison glanced over at her “Different context”  
“You really don't trust them do you?”  
“Do you?” Allison asked  
Lydia paused to think about the group of men “No. I don't”  
“Great, so at least I have _one_ person on my side”  
Lydia watched Allison carefully, she didn't seem angry, just irritated, on edge. Lydia had watched the girl talk to her team quietly before they had split up to go to their respective cars  
“They all trust them?” Lydia asked  
“Yes” Allison replied through gritted teeth “Fucking idiots”  
Lydia laughed “Okay, do you have a plan?”  
“Yeah” Allison patted her gun with one hand “I don't let my guard down regardless of how stupid my team are”  
“...So I’m guessing that this is going to put a delay on our hook up?” Lydia asked  
“Seems that way”  
“Well now I really hate them, I’m not a patient girl you know”  
 _“You think they have pie?”_ Stiles asked  
 _“Shut up Stiles”_ Derek replied _“They're offering us a place for the night, we should be thankful for that”  
_ Allison and Lydia shared a look, Allison turned down the music as she turned on the comm “That is so long as they don't try and kill us in our sleep and then make a three course meal out of our mangled corpses”  
 _“Well... Thank you for that mental image”_ Isaac muttered  
“I'm just wondering at what point exactly we started trusting strangers we meet on the road” Allison replied  
 _“Probably around the same time you started 'trusting' the redhead”_ Erica replied  
Lydia arched an eyebrow at the comm and noticed Allison do the same  
 _“We need to know the city, I’m not looking for a fire fight, these guys are willing to show us how to navigate this place. It's better than going in blind”_ Derek replied  
Allison made a sound of annoyance “So what you're saying is... You would rather go into these freaks home, where they have the upper hand... Rather than try and drive through the city?”  
 _“My mind is made up Allison, you're outvoted”  
_ Allison mouthed the mans words mockingly before sighing “Fine, but when this all goes wrong, I’m going to rub it in your face”she turns the comm off and glares it for a moment “Asshole”  
“That's your brother you're talking about”  
Allison smirked “He's still an asshole. I love him. But god he's an asshole”

 

The rest of the drive is silent as Allison keeps an eye of the pick-up not too far ahead, they reach their destination  
“Oh god, there's more of them” Allison mumbled, eyes falling on two other trucks and a small group of men and women watching their approach carefully.  
“Looks like they've really made themselves at home” Lydia says, eyeing the houses they're being led to, the houses are a good size, one of them could probably house the entire team comfortably. The largest of them actually reminds Allison a lot of the McCall house, strangely, it doesn't really make Allison feel any more at ease  
She pulls up outside the house and switches the engine off. Allison curses quietly under her breath and reaches to her weapon bag on the back seat, pulling it into her lap and pulling out a small knife after some rummaging  
“Do you have anywhere you can hide this?” Allison asked, holding the blade out for Lydia. The girl actually seems caught off guard by Allison's gesture, taking the knife and studying it for a moment  
“You're giving me a weapon?” Lydia asked “Does this mean you trust me?”  
“No” Allison replied, pulling out her ring daggers and and slipping them into her boots “It means my distrust of them outweighs my distrust of you”  
“Wow, you're really paranoid aren't you?” Lydia laughed, Allison turned back to her and tried to see where Lydia had hidden the weapon and was pleasantly surprised when she was unable to do so  
“I'm just being careful” Allison sighed  
They climbed out of the car, Allison locked the door before she walked over to where Danny was pulling a bag out of his trunk, he eyed glanced at Allison and frowned  
“Not bringing your bags?” He asked  
“I don't plan on making myself comfortable” Allison replied “I can't believe you're all okay with this”  
“They seem a little... Weird, sure” Stiles agreed, “But they're offering food and beds, both sound so good right now” he added with a grin  
“You're so easily won over” Allison sighed, she looks up at the largest house  
“Looks just like it, doesn't it?” Stiles frowned  
“It really does” Scott replied “I don't know how to feel about it”  
“Why y'all just standing around?” Ray asked, “Come on in, the missus made coffee”  
“Please be better than the tar Stilinski served us” Erica muttered as she walked past

  
The coffee actually smelt amazing, Ray's wife, a nice enough looking woman. She had briskly sat the majority of the team down once they had been brought in by her husband. Allison, Lydia had noticed, had opted to stay near the window, leaning against the wall as she palmed the mug. Lydia watched her from the across the room as she poured her coffee into the potted plant beside her as soon as she was sure nobody was paying her any attention. Allison caught her gaze as she finally emptied the mug and raised an eyebrow in challenge  
Lydia shrugged and turned back to the conversation at hand. Ray's wife, Mary, was stood at the head of the table, dicing meat  
“So when did you start this?” Derek asked  
“We'll be coming up on three years next week” Mary replied “Started out with just four of us, but eventually we met some like minded people and we expanded, fixed up the other houses on the street to make room for more people and now we all live together”  
“Mary here cooks for us all, me and my boys do the hunting, bring her only the best” Ray grinned  
“Everybody else splits the work, house maintenance, protecting the territory from bandits and rebels, others keep the wolves back. We work very well together”  
“Sounds like a pretty good set-up” Allison replied, she folded her arms over her chest and Lydia could tell the girl was beginning to regret not bringing her jacket into the house with her  
The door to the kitchen opened a blonde man stepped in, eyes scanning over the team  
“Marcus is back with the others” He said “they had a run in with rebels a few miles away”   
“Rebels?” Derek asked  
“I'm on my way” Ray replied  
“I'm coming too” Derek stood up “If that's okay with you?”  
“Sure, why not” Ray nodded “More the merrier, could use your input” he walked around to the door “Mary will show your friends to the spare rooms”   
Derek looked around the group and let his gaze linger on Allison “Be polite, help if you can”   
“You got it Der” Erica winked   
“So what brings you to these parts?” Mary asks, transferring the diced meat into a bowl before turning and adding another slab of meat to the board and began to dice it  
“Just passing through” Allison replied   
“We're trying to find somewhere to settle” Scott added. Lydia frowned, not understanding why they weren't being honest about why they were here   
“The compounds not working out for you?” Mary asked, watching them carefully   
“Yeah, we got sick of all the military guys hanging around” Stiles replied.   
Lydia listened to them tell Mary their story, it was actually kind of an impressive sight. Lydia couldn't be certain if they had this story planned out already or if this was just being made up on the spot, knowing Allison and the teams attention to detail they probably had this story made up years ago, ready to recount to anybody who asks.   
They talked for at least an hour, the sun had begun to set when Mary finally finished cutting meat  
“Should I show y'all to your rooms?” She asked, wiping her hands on her apron  
“We'd appreciate that”  
“I'm afraid there isn't enough space for you all to have your own room, so I hope y'all don't mind sharing”  
“We're used to it ma'am” Danny replied   
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Boyd asked “It's the least we could do for you offering up your home to us”  
Mary looked thoughtful for a moment “We'll see once you've all settled in” she walked around to the door “Shall we?”

  
“Here you go girls” Mary opened the door to a room and flicked on a light, revealing a single bed, pale pink walls and worn wooden furniture.  
Lydia eyed the bed and suppressed a sigh, Allison walked past her to the window to look at the city from their vantage point, the stars were beginning to make themselves known by this point  
“Thank you” Lydia replied, smiling sweetly  
“I'll go get dinner started, some of your friends have offered to help”  
“If there's anything we can do, let us know” Lydia said, Allison nodded  
“The bathroom is the third door on the left, it's the only one so make sure you knock” Mary replied before walking down the hallway. Allison crossed the room and closed the door, turning to lean against it. Her eyes closed  
“You seem stressed” Lydia mused  
“I still don't trust them” Allison replied  
“Mary seems nice” Lydia shrugged  
Allison gave a breathy laugh “Yeah, so did you”  
Lydia raised an eyebrow at the girl and moved into her space, she curled her hands around Allison's wrists and pushed them up above Allison's head. Allison opened her eyes and stared quizzically at Lydia  
“I'll have you know I can be incredibly nice” Lydia purred, using her knee to push Allison's thigh apart and leaning up to kiss her  
Allison doesn't respond to the kiss and it's only a few moments before she turns her head, breaking the kiss and pulling her hands free from Lydia's grip  
“I'm sure you can, but now isn't the time” Allison replied, Lydia sighed and walked over to sit on the bed  
“You're not very good at this whole fuck buddy thing, are you?” she asked  
Allison walked back over to the window and looked through it for a few moments “I have bigger priorities right now Lydia”   
“What are you looking at?” Lydia frowned  
Allison gestured outside vaguely “The city, I can see lights”  
Lydia sat up “Lights?”  
“Probably the bandits Ray mentioned” Allison shrugged.   
“Do you have a plan?” Lydia asked, Allison turned to her and frowned  
“What?”  
“You don't trust them, so what do you plan to do other than not sleep or drink the coffee- what was the deal with that by the way?”  
Allison smirked “Didn't need the extra buzz” she crossed her arms over her chest again “The plan is to wait, something will happen to give me a chance to expose them”   
“That's a terrible plan” Lydia pointed out

  
  
An hour later, the power went out. Allison flashed a triumphant grin in Lydia's direction before realising the girl can't actually see her  
“Come on” Allison muttered, feeling around for Lydia's arm and pulling her towards the door  
“What the fuck?” Lydia replied, Allison could hear her stumbling as they walked out of the room.  
Directly into someone else's chest  
“Alli?”  
“Danny!”  
“The power went out” Scott called  
There was a sigh somewhere behind Danny and Allison just knew that Stiles was face palming right now  
“Where are you going?” Danny asked  
“To see if I can fix it” Allison replied  
“I found the flash light!” Stiles called, a switch flicked and Stiles recoiled as the light hit him in the eyes “Okay ow”  
“Give me that” Allison moved towards him to grab the flash light “Come on”  
The team all followed her down the stairs and to the kitchen where Erica and Isaac were with Mary, they had been helping her prepare dinner while Boyd had gone with a couple of the other men to chop wood, apparently for a funeral of someone who had been bitten- Allison was hazy on the details  
Mary finished lighting candles before turning to them “Sorry about this”  
“It's no problem” Allison replied “Can we help?”  
“Ray normally fixes it, if one of you would go get him?”  
“We can fix it” Allison said “Is there a generator?”  
Mary hesitated for a long moment “...In the basement, but it might not be the generator that's the problem”  
“We can look at the fuse box” Stiles spoke up “Alli can take the generator, it'll be fine”  
“No really-”  
“We insist” Allison replied  
Mary sighed “Go down to the basement, the first thing you'll see is a door, take a left and the generator is at the end of the room”  
“Okay, Lydia, you can help me”  
“We've got the fusebox” Stiles replied  
Allison grabbed Lydia's arm and pulled her in the direction of the basement  
  
  
“Is the generator even the problem?” Lydia asked, keeping a hand curled into the fabric of Allison's shirt as they walk down the stairs  
“I highly doubt it” Allison replied “But if I’ve learnt anything from books and movies I’ve seen over the past few years, it's that if there's anything suspicious, it'll be in the basement”  
“So of course you have to drag me down here with you” Lydia huffed, stumbling into the back of Allison when they ran out of stairs. Allison keeps the flash light trained on the door in front of them, Allison hums and walks over to rattle the doorknob “And what? You think that the big secret is in there?”  
“Pretty much” Allison replied, she turns to walk towards where Mary said the generator was  
“Are you going to kick the door down?”  
“I want to avoid making a scene, in case I am right and Mary hearing the door being broken down and thus resulting in a painful death, so...” Allison held the flash light out for Lydia to take, which she did, albeit reluctantly “You're going to pretend to work on this, I’m going to go and pick the lock, we probably only have until the power comes back on or until Ray gets back”  
“This sounds like a bad plan”  
Lydia sees Allison shrug “Better than nothing” Allison gestures to the generator “Don't actually touch anything... Just...I don't know... Just stay here”  
Lydia rolls her eyes and crouches down “Good talk”  
  
  
In hindsight, the decision to pick the lock in the dark was a terrible idea, but she couldn't back out of the idea now, not with Lydia down the hall, flash light moving around the generator. Allison closed her eyes as she tried to visualise the lock and moved the picks slowly.  
The lights came up suddenly  
“Oh shit” Allison mumbled, she sighed and stood up, staring at the door for a few moments. Eventually Allison just shrugged “Fuck it” she said  
Right before she pictured Peter's face and kicked the door, the wood splintered and the door swung open  
Allison grinned, that never stopped being satisfying. Down the hall she heard Lydia laugh but Allison paid her no attention as she stepped into the room, switching the light on  
“Of fucking course” Allison sighed. She reluctantly stepped into the room- dungeon, meat locker... Allison didn't know what to call it. She eyed the handcuffs and chains bolted into the wall, smeared in bloodstains and the bones in the corner of the room. Allison grimaced at the dismembered body lying on a stone slab. A dismembered body that had several chunks of flesh cut away  
Realisation slowly dawned on Allison   
“Cannibals. I fucking knew it!” Allison hissed, her hand went to her gun as she moved to turn around, before she could do so however, she felt the cool press of metal against the back of her head. Allison tensed up  
“Well done”   
The gun cocked and Allison sighed, of course  
“Ray” Allison greeted “So... Is hunting people easier than deer?”  
“You're here, aren't you?” Ray pushed the gun harder into Allison's head “Go to the wall”   
Allison complied, walking to the far wall “Where's my team?”  
“Around. And they're completely unaware”  
“For how long though? They're going to look for me”   
Ray laughed “It won't matter, they're all going to end up down here”  
Allison considered her options, she didn't think it was likely that she would be able to knock the gun before he blew her brains out. Her best bet would be to keep him talking and hope Stiles, Erica or somebody came looking for her  
“Am I right to assume that members of your little group visited a motel about a week ago?” she asked  
“Right again, you're smart”  
“What was wrong with them? You left them all”  
“Some were bitten, they weren't worth bringing home”  
“But good enough to snack on?” Allison spat “God, and I thought bandits were fucked up”  
a sharp shove sent Allison into the wall, just barely bringing her hands up in time to brace herself   
“You're one to talk, Argent” he hissed. Allison froze   
“How did you-”  
“The necklace, I knew an Argent once”  
“What happened to them?” Allison asked  
Ray laughed “We killed him. Chopped him up and fed him to the wolves. And that's what we're going to do with you, you barely deserve that, your family is to blame for this mess”  
“You don't know what you're talking about” Allison growled “I had nothing to do with what they did, I was a kid”  
“Yet you wear the necklace, who's your father?”  
Allison closed her eyes “Chris, Chris Argent”  
“ _The_ Chris Argent? As in Sergeant major Chris Argent?”  
“Yeah” Allison replied quietly   
Ray laughed “Well I’ll be damned, I should take you to Beacon Hills, hand you over to Peter Hale, that bastard would pin a medal on me for bringing you in”  
Allison smirked “And then he'd have you assassinated”  
Ray's laughter stopped “What?”  
“I _work_ for Peter Hale. Derek? That guy who's been helping you? Yeah, that's Derek _Hale_ ”  
“You're lying”  
“You sure you want to risk that? Peter Hale finds out you killed his nephew and his team? May as well put that gun to your own head right now” Allison snapped  
“Liar!”  
“Wanna bet?” Allison asked  
“I'll send your-” Ray's voice turned to a garbled mess and Allison felt something splatter against the back of her neck, a moment later the gun fell away from the back of her head followed by the sound of something hitting the ground. Allison was stunned for a moment as she reached behind her to touch her neck, her fingers came away smeared with blood.   
Allison span around, pulling her gun out and froze at the sight of a very stunned looking Lydia, bloody knife held up. Allison looked down at the body between them and the slowly growing pool of blood coming from Ray's throat. Allison looked back at Lydia in awe  
“....You were right”   
Allison swallowed “Yeah, yeah... Holy shit” Allison reached over and pulled the knife from Lydia's hand “When did you show up?” she asked  
“The lights came up, you hadn't come back, I came to see what the big deal was, I walk in as you're ranting about working for Peter. You were both so worked up, neither of you heard me”  
Allison watched Lydia, how the colour seemed to be draining from her face “Are you okay?”  
“Fine, totally fine. I just killed a man in a dungeon”  
“If it helps, he's a cannibal”   
“That doesn't help at all”   
Allison smiled sympathetically “I'm sorry” Allison stepped over the body and turned Lydia around so that her back was to the body “You saved my life though. Thank you”  
Lydia huffed “Well somebody has to have your back”  
Allison was caught off guard by the comment, Lydia looked so shaken by the entire thing and they still had the problem of getting the fuck out of the house before they could end up in a pie  
“Oh my god” Lydia muttered “That meat Mary was dicing...”  
“Lets not go there” Allison winced “Come on, we need to tell the others-”   
Gunfire rang out overhead, Allison and Lydia stared up at the ceiling before sharing a worried look  
“That can't be good” Allison frowned. She bent down to grab the gun still being held by Ray, thankful that the blood hadn't reached it yet and pressed it into Lydia's hand “It won't recoil as much as the Colt did. Don't hesitate to fire it at anybody who isn't team” She tangled their fingers together and tightened her grip around her own gun, sparing one last moment to hold Lydia's gaze “And stay close to me” Allison turned and ran towards the stairs, Lydia's grip on her hand tightened

 

Lydia clung to Allison's hand as they ran up the stairs, the gun felt cold and foreign in her hand, a stark contrast compared to how warm and soft Allison's hand feels. They reach the top of the stairs and Allison barely stops before she crashes head first into Stiles  
“Allison!” Stiles exclaims  
“What's happening?”  
“The rebels that guy mentioned? Yeah, they're here”  
“Oh shit” Allison murmured, Stiles looked down at their joint hands  
“Where's Ray?”  
“Dead” Allison replied  
“What?!”  
“He tried to kill me, they're all cannibals” Allison explained, and Lydia couldn't understand how Allison was being so casual about it, they were in a house of _cannibals_ for crying out loud  
A window shattered somewhere ahead and suddenly Lydia understood  
There were bigger things to worry about  
“Cannibals, holy shit” Stiles breathed  
Allison shrugged “Should have trusted me”  
“Allison, you can brag later” Stiles sighed  
“Fine, what's the plan?” Allison asked  
“Get to the team, get to the cars, get the fuck out of here?” Stiles suggested  
“Good plan” Allison agreed, she pulled on Lydia's hand towards the front door and out into the night air, she caught sight of Erica crouched behind a wall with Boyd and Isaac  
“Reyes!” Allison yelled “You good?”  
“Fucking peachy!” Erica yelled back “You?”  
“Been better!” Allison replied, tugging Lydia behind some cover when a couple of Vox fire at her “Erica! The people here are cannibals!”  
“But that means we nearly ate people!” Isaac yelled  
“You people really need to sort out your priorities” Lydia found herself mumbling  
Allison glanced over her shoulder at Lydia and smirked, the smirk fell quickly as she span around and fired a shot, Lydia saw one of the cannibals hit the ground  
“You okay?” Allison asked, firing off two more shots at a Vox that was getting too close to where Danny was fighting  
“I'm fine” Lydia replied  
“Just keep close, keep breathing” She pulled Allison out of the house and down the front path. Lydia was just thankful that most of the Vox seemed more preoccupied with fighting the group of cannibals  
“Probably because they killed their people” Allison muttered, she glanced back at Lydia “We're going towards Erica, stay low and keep moving”  
“Okay”  
“You ready?”  
“Yeah”  
Allison wasted no time, she pulled on Lydia's arm as they sprinted across the grass. Allison jerked and veered to the left, almost tripping Lydia in the process before just wrapping an arm around Lydia and essentially diving to the ground, using herself to shield Lydia as they collide into Boyd  
“Nice work there Allison” Erica sighed   
“Shut up Erica” Allison gritted out, peeling herself away from Lydia “Stay down” she tells her  
“Have you seen Scott?” Isaac asked  
“No” Allison replied “We ran into Stiles inside the house. Have you seen Derek?”  
“He's fighting the Vox with the... Cannibals” Boyd replied with a frown, Lydia braced a hand on the boy so she could move up onto her knees, she was still gripping the gun tightly in her hand,   
“We need to get to the cars” Erica replied  
“Not without Danny and my brothers” Allison snapped looking over the wall and firing, Lydia hears a strangled cry and turns her gaze back to the house, spotting three figures running from the house, Lydia grabbed Allison's hand and shook her  
“There they are”   
Allison turned and followed Lydia's gaze, a relived sigh passing her lips   
“To the cars?” Erica suggested  
“Fuck it, lets do it. If you see Derek, yell for him”  
“What about the people here?”  
“the cannibals who were about to feed us human meat and then kill us so they could make a feat from our flesh?” Erica raised an eyebrow “Yeah, fuck them”  
“About time you say something I agree with” Allison replied  
“Count of three?” Boyd said  
“Ready when you are” Erica winked  
“Lydia, go for my side, climb over, it's quicker okay?”  
Lydia nodded “Okay”  
Allison nodded back and took a deep breath and smiled in a way Lydia could only assume she meant as reassuring. Lydia steeled herself ready to run, Boyd counted slowly, she almost missed it had it not been for him pushing her up to her feet.   
Allison stayed close as they ran. She focused on Allison's car, listening to Allison fire several shots behind her. The sounds changed to something deeper and Lydia could only assume Allison had switched to her Colt. Lydia heard Allison yell something at Derek and managed to glance over to the man only to see him running towards them  
When the Mustang was only feet away, Allison overtook her, grabbing the door and pulling it open so Lydia could dive in, her knee hit the gear stick, causing her to hiss in pain. Lydia settled in her seat and watched as Allison was grabbed by a Vox, cursing loudly as she threw her head back to head butt the man, pulling from his grip and reaching down to pull a knife from her boot and slashing upwards through his chest and throat in one movement. By the time Lydia blinked, Allison was in the car, switching on the engine and tearing away from the road

  
“Are you okay?” Allison asked, Lydia opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the comm,  
 _“Guys... We have company”  
Allison_ frowned and reached up to adjust her mirror “Oh for fucks sake” she groaned upon seeing three cars approaching, headlights making it impossible for Allison to be able to see just who the fuck was making their evening so rough  
 _“Just stick close to each other”_ Derek replied  
Allison ejected the spent clip from her pistol as she held the wheel with her other hand and reloaded the gun “Lydia, turn the comm on”  
Allison rolled down the window as Lydia fumbled with the device “Sticking close is one thing, but these assholes don't seem like the type to back off” Allison said  
 _“Are they rebels or cannibals?”_ Erica asked  
Allison went to look out of the window and recoiled sharply when several shots rang out “Yeah I don't think it matters” Allison replied “I swear to god if they hurt my car I’ll take them out”she added under her breath  
 _“Look, just focus on getting out of the city”  
_ “Allison?” Lydia said quietly  
“What?”  
“Motorcycle”  
“What?!” Allison snapped her head towards Lydia. She looked back up at the rear view mirror at the black motorcycle quickly racing toward them “Are you _serious?!_ ” Allison exclaimed, the bike came up on Lydia's side and turned sharply. Allison pulled the wheel to the left, pulling the car onto the pavement  
A car pulled past Allison and rammed into the tail of Boyd's car  
 _“They're trying to split us up!”_ Isaac yelled

The drove through the streets, Allison trying to keep the the rest of her team in her sights, weaving through the streets and abandoned cars. She could barely spare Lydia a glance to make sure that she was okay. Allison saw the bullet holes in the back of Boyd's car and swerved towards the motorcycle, trying to knock the driver away.  
Allison looked up and found that she had lost sight of her team  
“Lydia-”  
“They went right”  
Allison went to turn when she heard a shattering sound followed by Lydia screaming and lurching towards her. Allison threw her arm out to brace her  
“Is my car hit?”  
“...Yeah”  
“What happened?”  
“Side mirror”  
“That son of a bitch” Allison snapped, she turned left to avoid a hit from a car and leant out of her window, firing a shot at the motorcycle “I'm going to kill you!” She yelled “Oh. You're not hit are you?” Allison asked, almost as an afterthought  
“Good to know where your priorities lie” Lydia replied, shoving Allison's arm away   
“Good to know you can find time to be sarcastic in this difficult times” Allison focused on the road and switched gears quickly and took another left  
“ _Allison, keep going, we'll come find you”_ Derek called over the comm

  
“Do you know where we are?” Lydia asked a few minutes later  
“Nope”  
“Are they following us?”  
“Probably”  
“Do you have any idea what you're doing?”  
“Driving”  
Lydia sighed heavily “You're useless”  
Allison alternated her gaze between the road and the mirror “Well I’m a little busy trying to keep us from not dying and-” Allison frowned “I think we're at the edge of the city”  
Lydia leant forward in her seat “I think you might be right”  
They drove for a while, Allison finally relaxing enough to look at Lydia properly, the girl had her gaze fixed firmly ahead and was clearly shaken by the entire ordeal, Allison was proud of her though, Lydia had held her own remarkably well, she had listened to Allison's orders well.  
“So what do we do about your team?” Lydia asked  
Allison frowned and glanced at the comm, they had gone out of range a few minutes ago, “They'll come back for us”  
“You're sure?” Lydia asked, they finally crossed the city line and began to find their way back onto a smaller road  
“Yeah, I trust them”  
“And what? We just wait for them to come and get us?” Lydia frowned  
“Once we've got a good distance away from the city, yeah, I don't want those asshole rebels to come back and try something else, find somewhere to hide”  
“That's a great plan Allison, find somewhere to hide a cherry red muscle car”  
Allison laughed, feeling her body begin to shiver, a clear sign of the adrenaline fading away and slowly giving way to a burning pain in her right arm

 

Lydia focused on keeping her breathing under control while Allison drove, she was familiar with the mechanics of coming down from an adrenaline rush, but Lydia had never experienced it like this. She had killed a man, she had felt the blade tear through his jugular and watched the blood pool out on the floor. She had watched Allison and her team engage in a fire fight with rebels and cannibals and had been in a car chase  
All in all, Lydia was actually surprised at how put together she was right now. She knows at least part of it down to trying to keep up a good appearance around Allison, she doesn't want Allison or her team to think that she can't handle herself, she nudged the gun with her toe, she hadn't actually fired a shot, Allison had always been able to get there first.  
Allison had made sure to make sure Lydia wasn't going to get hurt  
“You need to drink” Allison said, dangling a bottle of water in front of Lydia's face. Lydia took the bottle and just as she caught sight of something dark on Allison's arm, she grabbed the girls wrist before she could pull it back  
“You're bleeding”  
Allison glanced over at her arm “What?”  
“Were you shot?” Lydia asked, Allison pulled her arm away   
“No?” Allison replied, though she sounded unsure “I think I would have felt a bullet” she holds onto the steering wheel with her bloody arm and wipes at it with her other hand “It's barely a flesh wound”   
“You're being very calm about this” Lydia replied, the only light she had to go by was coming from the headlights and for the first time Lydia really understood why the team never drove at night, she could barely see any further than ten feet away   
“Just a flesh wound” Allison shrugged, she looked through the window for a few moments “We can pull over now, we should be safe here”  
“Famous last words” Lydia mumbled “Will wolves show up?”   
“Hopefully not” Allison replied, the turned off of the road and came to a stop “They should be able to find us here”  
“The rebels?”  
“The team” Allison replied, she kept the headlights on and inspected her arm. Allison sighed and grabbed the bottom of her shirt, tearing some away. Lydia watched Allison as she wiped at her arm with the torn fabric until Lydia could see a slash through the skin of her bicep “Oh shit, I don't even know when that happened” Allison frowned   
“Does it hurt?”  
Allison shook her head “Can't feel a thing” she held out the bloodied fabric “Can you tie this around it, I don't want to get blood everywhere”   
“Sure” Lydia complied, tying it tight enough to hopefully stop the bleeding “Done”  
“Awesome, now we just have to wait for the others and hope they haven't died”

  
Allison sat back with a sigh, rubbing over her arm aimlessly, she turned towards Lydia, raising an eyebrow at the scrutinising glare  
Lydia shook her head slowly, taking her time undoing her seatbelt, Lydia turned to meet Allison's eye once more Allison didn't falter under the glare,  
"What?" Allison asked  
"You _fool_ " Lydia snapped, reaching across and pushing her hands into Allison's hair and bringing their lips together, Allison managed a surprised sound that she's sure she'll be embarrassed about later, she feels Lydia shift across the space, moving to straddle Allison's thighs and pulling Allison up into the kiss  
"I still hate you" Lydia muttered  
"Thanks"  
"But you're hot and that was incredible and we nearly died"  
Common sense finally kicked in, hands stilling Lydia's own when she feels the girl pull at her shirt  
"Lydia, not-" Allison let her words die on her tongue as Lydia pinned her with another glare  
"Allison. We both nearly died. We've been waiting for this all day" she held a hand up, cutting Allison off before she could even form words for a protest "And I am not about to sit in a car with you for the next hour while we wait for your team to show up"  
Allison pursed her lips, took in the sight of Lydia, the fact that she couldn't really form any objections left her with little else to say  
"Fine"  
Lydia grinned "Good. Now can we move this to the back seat?” Lydia made a face “Your stupid steering wheel is prodding me in the back"  
"Word of advice, don't insult my car when you want me to fuck you in it" Allison muttered, tangling her hands into her Lydia's hair to bring their lips together  
Allison skimmed her hands along Lydia's neck and down to her blouse, gripping each side of it and pulling it open, a button flying off and hitting the window. Allison grabbed her bra to pull the cup down, Lydia batted her hand away  
“Back seat, now.” Lydia nodded towards the seat, as she pulled her blouse off. Allison twisted her head to the bag full of weapons and grabbed it, throwing it onto the passenger seat and sighing as half of the contents spill out onto the seat and to the ground. She gripped onto Lydia's thighs and managed to clamber backwards into the back seat, one of Lydia's arms wrapping around Allison's shoulders to steady herself.  
“You really lack grace you know” Lydia sighed, dropping her bra to the floor of the car  
“Who needs grace” Allison replied, leaning in to latch onto a nipple. Lydia moaned, dragging her nails along Allison's back. Allison paid close attention to both of Lydia's breasts, biting at them and grinding when she feels Lydia's thighs jerk, her hips rolling down into Allison. Lydia grabbed one of Allison's hands and guided it lower  
“You should get a move on” Lydia breathed “It'd be awkward if you brother showed up” she leant in to kiss at Allison's neck  
“Can we not talk about Derek when your half naked and on top of me please?” Allison asked, she let her head fall back, Lydia trailed kisses up her throat as Allison let her hand move further up Lydia's thigh, Lydia was sucking on her bottom lip when Allison brushed up against her, Lydia moaned against her, biting down when Allison shoved her underwear to one side fingers brushing over her clit  
"Fuck, Allison" Lydia groaned  
"That is the idea" Allison smirked  
"Funny" Lydia tugged Allison's ear between her lips,  
"Well, I try" Allison grinned, stroking against Lydia's folds "What do you want me to do Lydia?"  
"To get on with it"  
Allison rolled her eyes and let her thumb brush against Lydia's clit, smirking when Lydia's entire body bowed forward, thighs jerking and tightening around Allison. Allison took pity on the girl and slid two fingers inside her, Lydia moaned instantly  
"Erica's gonna have a field day if she finds out about this" Allison mumbled as she curled her fingers, watching the way Lydia arched up and gripped onto Allison's arms, rolling her hips as she does so  
"I'm sorry, am I distracting you?" Lydia asked “Some of us want to come at some point today” she added with a huff  
“I'm not getting any more patient myself you know” Allison replied, glaring up at Lydia and pausing for a moment before beginning to pump her fingers inside of Lydia “At least you're getting something out of this”  
Lydia bit down on Allison's ear “I'll make it worth your while later”  
“I'm holding you to that” Allison said, she bit on Lydia's breast again and curled her fingers, pressing the heel of her palm against Lydia's clit.  
Lydia's back bowed as she moaned, hips circling and grinding down into Allison “I'll be the one doing to the holding” Allison watched a bead of sweat drip down Lydia's temple from the exertion  
“I look forward to it” Allison replied, fucking harder into Lydia  
“Oh you will”  
Allison rolled her eyes, Lydia seemed to insist on acting so in control and Allison was going to make her lose her damn composure right now if it's the last thing she does.  
Allison snaked an arm around Lydia's waist and with a quick movement, flipped them so Lydia was on her back, Allison fitting nicely between her legs. Allison curled her fingers again and crouched down to suck on Lydia's clit  
“Holy _fuck_ ” Lydia moaned, back arching off of the seat, Allison pressed her hips back down. Lydia's breaths were coming out faster, her hands digging into Allison's hair and pulling, a plea for more  
Allison broke away and turned her head to bite down on Lydia's thigh, moving up quickly to swallow Lydia's cry  
“You fucker” Lydia whimpered  
“That's the idea” Allison grinned and braced her hand on the door of her car, Lydia arching up to lock their lips together. Allison pressed her thumb to Lydia's clit, feeling Lydia's walls tighten around her  
“Fuck” Lydia broke the kiss, head falling back and eyes fluttering shut. Allison licked her way from Lydia's collarbone up to her throat and kissed her again. Lydia's hands moved under Allison's shirt, nails digging into the flesh of her shoulders only serving to spur Allison on  
“Nothing to say?” Allison asked  
“Shut... shut up” Lydia moaned  
Allison chuckled and circled Lydia's clit with her thumb and feeling Lydia's thighs begin to tremor and shake and Allison could tell she was close, could tell by how Lydia was trying to pull her closer, hips canting upwards into Allison  
By the time Lydia lets out another moan, her eyes falling shut, walls spasming around Allison's fingers, Allison feels so worked up herself. There's something incredibly satisfying about watching the normally composed Lydia fall apart underneath her  
Allison stayed still as she watched Lydia's breathing even out, her eyes opened slowly and stared up at Allison, lips shiny and slightly parted. Allison studied her expression as her fingers slid out of Lydia  
Allison let out a breath and moved back, spending a moment studying her glistening fingers before she trails her fingers from the bottom of Lydia's throat down to her naval  
Lydia raises an eyebrow “Charming” she huffs. Allison smirks at her and ducks down to press her tongue to Lydia's stomach and dragging it up slowly, feeling her own muscles clamp down at the taste of Lydia on her lips, she hears Lydia make a quiet whimper and registers the girls head falling against the seat. Allison breaks away and hovers just above Lydia's face  
“Good?” she asked  
Lydia stared up at her and smirked “Not bad”  
Allison rolled her eyes and sat up “You're so annoying”  
Lydia hummed and Allison felt hands fumbling at the buttons of her jeans “So are you, but that was a good orgasm and I’m pretty sure I made a promise to make it worth your while”  
Allison glanced at her arm and frowned at the fresh blood seeping through the makeshift bandage, the adrenaline had mostly worn off by now and the pain was definitely beginning to get to her.  
But Lydia's hands were dipping into her pants so it was really, _really_ hard to care right now  
Allison at least had the sense to wipe away some of the steam from the rear-view window, tensing when she sees headlights approaching  
“Oh no”  
“Allison?”  
Allison counts the three pairs of headlights and sighs heavily, “They're here”  
“Who?” Lydia sits up  
“Who do you think? The team!” Allison reaches over to grab the discarded blouse and threw it at Lydia “Get changed”   
Allison climbed over to her seat, grabbing the bag of weapons from Lydia's and stuffing as many of the weapons inside as possible before she throws it back onto the back seat, she lets her head hit fall and hit the steering wheel with a resigned sigh. A moment later Lydia climbs into her seat, smoothing out her skirt  
“You missed a button” Allison muttered  
“I didn't miss it. _You_ ripped it off” Lydia replied   
“Oh... Sorry?”  
“No you're not”   
Allison grinned “No, I’m not”  
Lydia shook her head, “You better go out there, kinda smells like sex in here”  
Allison glared at Lydia until she saw Derek's car pull up beside them and climbed out

  
“Allison, are you okay?” Derek was out of his car and in front of her before Allison could comprehend it  
“I'm fine, we're fine. You guys?”  
“Had a run in with some bandits, but we lost them and the Vox” Stiles explained from his seat in Danny's car “Are you hurt?” he asked, nodding at Allison's arm  
“Barely a graze, it'll be fine”  
“You need to get that looked at” Derek replied  
“In the middle of nowhere?” Allison raised an eyebrow  
“There's a motel literally a fifteen minute drive from here” Derek matched Allison's expression “This is the route we were trying to get back onto”  
Allison sighed inwardly, of course it was  
She scratched the back of her head “Okay, lead the way”  
“You sure you're okay? I would have thought you would want to gloat about being right”  
“I just want to sleep, I’ll gloat tomorrow”  
“I look forward to it”  
  
  
“So that went well” Lydia murmured as they drove, Allison hummed, eyes focused ahead “Does he suspect anything?”  
“He always suspects something” Allison replied, Lydia reached over to trail a hand along Allison's thigh “Lydia, don't”  
“You're so worked up”  
“I just fucked you in the back seat, I have a right to be frustrated”  
Lydia kept moving her finger across Allison's thigh “You just have to wait until we get a room”  
Allison laughed “We're not having sex in a motel room, do you know how thin those walls are?”  
“Scared you won't be able to stay quiet?” Lydia teased, Allison's jaw tightened “You are, aren't you?”  
“No”  
“Liar” Lydia smirked. Allison huffed.

The rest of the drive was silent, but Allison didn't complain about the placement of Lydia's hand again.  
Eventually they reached the motel and Allison didn't speak to her again until they were sat beside one another in the diner, first aid kit on the table as Lydia cleaned the blood away from the injury and wrapped a real bandage around it  
“You have to make sure you keep it clean, avoid any infection” she tells the brunette  
“I know” Allison huffed “It's not my first time getting hurt on the job”  
Lydia raised a questioning eyebrow but Allison didn't offer any more details. Instead wondering over to her team while they waited for their late night meal to arrive. As Lydia watched Allison she wondered if the girl or her team were at all aware of how on edge Allison was. Though Lydia guesses that Allison can pin most of the blame on the events of the day.  
Allison doesn't come back to their table until their food arrives and she sits opposite her. Lydia raises an eyebrow at Allison as she sets her hands on the table, Allison slides a key over to Lydia and meets her gaze, sharing a private smile before digging into her meal

“Allison,” Derek catches her arm “Are you okay?”  
“I'm just tired Der”  
“What happened with Ray? Stiles mentioned that he was dead”  
Allison leant against Derek's car “He knew that I’m an Argent”  
“What? How?” Derek frowned  
Allison gestured to her necklace “He said he knew an Argent once, whoever it was probably had one of these” she sighed “I would have died had Lydia not shown up”  
“Does she know?”  
“No, she showed up after that”  
“You shouldn't have left your back so exposed” Derek replied “Look what happened last time”  
“You think I don't remember?” Allison exclaimed “I have the scars to prove it”  
“Allison-”  
“Derek, it's fine, I’m fine. Can we talk about this tomorrow? I've had a long day and I want to get as far away from that city as possible”  
Derek stared at Allison for a moment before nodding and leaning in to kiss Allison on the top of her head  
“Okay, good night Allison, I’m next door if you need anything”  
Allison sighed, of course he was. “Goodnight Der”  


Lydia sat on the edge of the bed waiting, five minutes later Allison stepped through the door, throwing their bag of clothes to the ground. Lydia waited for Allison to meet her gaze before standing up and walking towards her  
“Lydia... Derek is next door” Allison sighed  
Lydia slid a hand under the front of Allison's shirt, smirking at the way Allison's muscles tensed under her touch  
“Then you'll have to be extremely quiet, pity really, I really want to hear you moan”  
Allison closes her eyes. Lydia leans up to kiss her and when she does, Allison responds to it, Lydia kisses slowly at first, coaxing Allison's lips apart. She waits until Allison's hands are tangled in her hair before breaking the kiss  
“Strip” she ordered  
Allison looked like she was about to argue for a minute but she nodded, stepping away from Lydia and pulling her shirt over her head. Lydia walked around her to the door, making sure it's locked before she stars to remove her own clothes.  
Allison turned to face Lydia and for a moment everything seemed to pause because holy _shit_ Allison definitely worked out and Lydia definitely wanted to bite those abs and see if Allison can support her weight  
There's so many possibilities  
She's so busy studying (admiring) Allison that she doesn't notice the girl staring at her expectantly. When she finally does notice she clears her throat  
“Not bad” She says, gesturing to Allison's body  
“You're not so bad yourself” Allison replied and Lydia is glad that Allison knows about the scar already, she doesn't seem put off in the least by the sight of them and for that Lydia is genuinely thankful  
Lydia walked over to Allison and finally got her hands on the girl, she skimmed her hands over Allison's stomach and up to thumb at her nipples, watching as Allison's eyes closed in mute delight. Lydia leant up to drag her teeth over Allison's neck and was about to bite down when Allison pulled away  
“Don't leave hickies” She shook her head “Not... Not there anyway” She averted her eyes when Lydia gave her a questioning look “They'll know if you leave marks they can see”  
“Fine” Lydia sighed, she ducked her head to bite hard on the side of Allison's breast, hard enough to leave a bruise that'll surely last for at least a week- revenge for Allison biting her thigh earlier “Better?”  
“You fucker”  
Lydia smirked “That's the idea” She replied, stepping back enough to shove Allison towards the bed, the woman falling against the mattress and looking up at her with a shocked expression. Lydia crawled onto the bed, hands on either side of Allison, watching as she inches away “Turn over”  
“...What?”  
Lydia rolled her eyes “Turn. Over”  
Allison raised up on her forearms and just stared at Lydia for a few moments, Lydia placed two fingers under Allison's chin and kissed her  
“Trust me Allison, it'll be worth it”  
Allison nodded once and rolled over. Lydia slid her hand along Allison's spine, pausing when she saw the faint scratches she had left earlier and pushed Allison's hair off of her shoulder and pausing because _oh_  
“I was shot, twice” Allison said, voice muffled by the pillows. Lydia ran her thumb over the scarring  
“Did it hurt?”  
“Are we going to talk battle scars or are you going to fuck me?” Allison asked  
Lydia grabbed Allison's shoulder and pulled her up, sliding an arm over Allison's chest and pulling her against her, she pressed her lips to Allison's ear  
“I thought you'd never ask” she whispered, she shifted so her thigh was between Allison's legs, something easy for her to grind on, she heard Allison's breathing catch in her throat “Don't forget Allison,” Lydia paused to tug on Allison's ear with her teeth “you have to stay quiet”  
“Just get on with it” Allison mumbled, pushing down on Lydia's thigh  
“With pleasure” Lydia replied, using the arm around Allison's chest to guide her movements as her free hand reaches down to tease Allison's clit. Allison's mouth fell open as she rocked her hips against Lydia's thigh, the skin becoming wetter the longer Lydia let Allison move, Lydia bit at Allison's shoulder, resisting a laugh every time she heard Allison's breathing hitch. Lydia leant back as far as she could comfortably, allowing herself to take most of Allison's weight, Allison's head falling against her shoulder and dark curls spilling over her skin as Allison continued to ride her thigh. Lydia watched the way Allison would bite on her lip to suppress the sounds Lydia could tell desperately wanted to make themselves known. She watched Allison's pulse jump and licked the spot on her neck  
But it wasn't enough, she wanted to be above Allison when she came, wanted to watch the self proclaimed badass lose her damn composure.   
Lydia moved her hand from Allison's chest to tangle in her hair and pulled Allison's face towards her for a kiss, Allison kissed back sloppily, lips moving out of sync with Lydia's and teeth catching before Lydia pulled away all together pushing Allison so she fell face first against the bed  
“Lydia what the fuck?” Allison hissed, rolling over and looking incredibly pissed off  
“Sssh” Lydia smiled, fitting herself between Allison's legs and running her hands up the soft skin “I told you, I need to know what you taste like”  
Allison's head fell back against the pillows, a low groan passing through her lips. Lydia bit along Allison's thigh up to her centre before laying her tongue flat against Allison, Lydia had to grab Allison's hips to stop her from arching off of the bed completely. Lydia tilts her head up to suck at Allison's clit briefly, just to hear the way Allison seems to forget how to breathe until eventually she begins to fuck Allison with her tongue, guiding Allison's hips and feeling Allison build and build and just when Lydia is sure Allison is about to break she pulls away, Allison moaning at the sound of protest, a sound Lydia cuts off by sliding up Allison's body, grabbing her jaw and sucking on Allison's tongue, Allison whimpers into Lydia's mouth and this is exactly what Lydia wanted.   
Out there, in the wasteland, Allison was a wolf, she was deadly with knives and bullets and was so sure of herself she didn't even back down when there was a gun pressed to the back of her head  
But in here? Underneath Lydia? She was nothing more than a puppy, whining and whimpering so quietly out of fear of being heard by her brothers and team mates, trying to ask for more without actually begging as Lydia draws it all out for as long as possible  
She wants to hear Allison beg  
Lydia pulls away from the kiss and reaches down to tease at Allison's clit grinning down at the girl when she tries to chase the pressure  
“Lydia-”  
“What is it Allison?” Lydia asked, moving her fingers away   
Allison closes her eyes and huffs “Nothing”  
“Nothing?” Lydia pouts “Nothing at all?”   
Allison shakes her head. Lydia smirks and leans down to suck on Allison's chest, making sure to leave as many hickies as possible, by now Allison is squirming against the sheets and she actually brings a hand up to her mouth to bite on rather than make a sound  
“Now now Allison, that won't do” Lydia reaches up to move the hand away “Are you sure there's nothing you want to ask me?”   
Allison's breathing stutters again, her eyebrows drawing together as she lets out another huff, more frustrated this time “I need more”   
“More what?” Lydia asked  
“More _anything_ ” Allison muttered “God, Lydia I- I’m so close”  
“What more could you want Allison?” Lydia sat back, she moved her fingers up to Allison's thigh and trailed a pattern across the skin  
Allison arched her hips up, Lydia could tell that Allison knew what she had to do if she wanted to come tonight and Allison didn't like it, they were both so stubborn that the idea of begging was definitely not appealing to Allison  
But her resolve had been slipping rapidly   
“I want you to fuck me” Allison admitted quietly  
“What was that?” Lydia smiled  
“I want you to fuck me” Allison repeated, a more pleading tone to her voice “ _Please_ ”  
And that was all Lydia needed to hear, she had made Allison beg. Lydia slid two fingers in, covering Allison's mouth with her own to swallow her moan   
“All you had to do was ask Allison” Lydia whispered against her lips and there was a cramp building in her wrist but Lydia couldn't find it in herself to care, not with how Allison was falling apart under her, eyes closed and neck bared to her and Lydia wanted nothing more than to bite it, but Allison had told her she couldn't, she had to respect that  
“Lydia-”   
“Don't come yet”  
“Lydia” Allison's voice came out wrecked   
“Not yet” Lydia slid down Allison's body again, dragging her tongue across the skin and Allison tastes like sweat and something distinctly Allison but it's not what she wants so she continues her descent until she's sucking on Allison's clit again, hands moving to grab her hips and guiding Allison on her face, she glances up and watches Allison, one hand clutching the sheets, the other biting down on her hand as Lydia fucks into her and everything smells and tastes like Allison and she's on the edge and she's holding on, she's actually holding on  
“Lydia- _Please_ , I can't, I can't, I need to-”  
“Come for me Allison” Lydia says  
“Oh god” she hears Allison moan, hips arching off of the bed and Lydia just keeps licking and sucking through her orgasm until Allison drops down against the mattress, exhausted. Lydia licks at her a few more times, grinning as Allison tries to pull away  
Lydia finally pulls away and licks at her lips  
“I was right, you taste good” Lydia remarks  
Allison doesn't respond, instead just lying there for a while.  
Lydia shrugs and lies down beside her  
"Not bad" Allison said after a few minutes, Lydia tilted her head and rolled her eyes at the smirk on her lips  
"Not bad?" Lydia rolled onto her side, propping herself up on an elbow, she trails a finger along Allison's neck and jaw "I'm offended"  
Allison smirked up at her, "good to know that controlling personality transfers over to the bedroom too"  
Lydia dipped down to kiss Allison, Allison's lips cling lazily to hers, humming happily into the kiss "You certainly didn't seem to be complaining" Lydia replied "if I recall, you were begging"  
Allison shoved on Lydia's shoulder "yeah, yeah. God you're so full of yourself" Allison sat up and pushed a hand through her hair, stretching her arms, Lydia stared at Allison's back for a few moments reaching out to drag her nails lightly down her spine. Allison made a quiet sound and pressed back into the pressure  
"Round two?" Lydia suggested "after watching you, I could certainly go again"  
Allison snorted and climbed from the bed, Lydia watched as she grabbed clean clothes from her bag "Pass, I need a shower and sleep, almost being killed really takes it out of you" Allison shrugged, she paused by the dresser to grab her necklace  
"Are you allergic to cuddling or something?"  
Allison grinned "Post sex cuddling? How romantic"  
Lydia huffed and fell back down against the bed "fine, I don't need you, don't come crawling to me when you're cold though" she pulled the blanket up over herself  
"I'll try to keep that in mind" Allison replied, walking towards the bathroom, disappearing through the door. Lydia settled down into the bed, after spending the past two nights sleeping on a floor and a not too comfortable prison bed art old motel bed felt pretty much like heaven, her muscles felt lax and she knew she wouldn't have much trouble falling asleep tonight  
And the fact that Derek hadn't kicked down the door meant that he was _hopefully_ still unaware of them, unlike Allison she couldn't even find it within herself to care if he had, it was worth it to see Allison panting and moaning underneath her  
Lydia yawned and pulled the blanket more securely around her

 

Allison sat with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, she glanced across the room at Lydia fast asleep in the bed before she turned back to her weapons around her. She should actually do what she said and get some sleep, it's been a long day and Allison isn't exactly looking forward to facing her team tomorrow. Still, she couldn't deny that she felt a lot more relaxed after the amount of attention Lydia had paid to her  
She also couldn't believe how easily she had given into Lydia, she was already thinking of ways to get her back the next time they were alone  
Allison counted out six bullets and loaded them into a magazine, when she sets it to one side she reaches up to rub her shoulder, the dull ache causing her more discomfort than her newest injury. Allison sighed and loaded a fresh magazine into her pistol. She wraps the blanket more around her and curls into the blanket  
She looks back over to Lydia and tries to will herself to sleep

 

 


	7. And the weight of the world's getting harder to hold up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Whatever you say Argent.” He mumbled. “Just don't push people away because you're a stubborn ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been way too long since this was updated.... Five months.... My b...  
> Chapter title from "Drown" by Bring me the Horizon

 

 

Lydia woke early, at least it felt early... She hated how she was getting into the habit of these early mornings. Sighing to herself she sat up and looking over to the empty space in the bed beside her.  
God, Allison was so stubborn.  
"About time." She heard Allison mutter. She looked over the edge of the bed and /oh/  
Now this is just rude, she's been awake for less than a minute and Allison is there doing push ups in just her jeans and a bra and she definitely looks sweaty.  
"Do you ever sleep?" Lydia asked.  
Allison laughed under her breath, shifting to lean back on her forearms and staring up at Lydia. "I slept."  
Lydia unashamedly stared at Allison's abs, toying with the idea of straddling her right there, pushing her down and dragging her teeth over those muscles.  
"For how long?" Lydia raised an eyebrow.  
Allison shrugged and got to her feet, stretching her arms behind her back, Lydia just knew she was doing all of this on purpose. "You should probably shower." She said instead, turning to pull back the curtain to look out of the window.  
Lydia slipped from the bed, walking up behind Allison and leaving a biting kiss on her shoulder, just above the scars she had spotted the night before.  
"You could always join me?" Lydia suggested.  
"We both know that's a bad idea." Allison replied, letting the curtain fall back into pace and turning, holding Lydia's gaze.  
"Bad... But fun." Lydia shrugged, pressing the palm of her hand to Allison's stomach, letting her nails dig into the flesh and smirking when Allison's body tenses.   
"Another time." Allison replied, knocking Lydia's hand away and moving past her. "You can fuck yourself if you're that desperate, I'm going to shower." She reached behind her to unclasp her bra and walked towards the bathroom.  
"Someone's gotten confident!" Lydia's called after the retreating figure.  
Allison stopped in the doorway and raised an eyebrow. "Lydia, your tongue has literally been inside of me. I think we're past all that."  
"Will you tell me your last name?"  
"Yeah, on my deathbed." Allison replied, kicking the door closed.

 

She had left Lydia to shower, at this point Allison was beyond caring. She knew Lydia wouldn't run now, even if she did make an attempt, Derek was watching her way too closely, watching them both too closely and with everything that happened last night with the cannibals and the Vox... Well, Lydia isn't dumb, she wouldn't dare.  
"Here you go darling." The waitress set a stack of pancakes in front of her.  
Allison frowned up at her. "But I didn't-"  
"That's because I did." Derek dropped into the seat opposite her. "When was the last time you ate?"  
Good point.  
"Is this a 'I'm sorry, we should have listened to you' or..."  
"Pretty much." Derek nodded. Allison watched him sip at his coffee. "When are you going to throw all of this info my face?"  
"Just remember that I am always right and get off of Lydia's back." Allison replied. Derek narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "She saved my life last night, Derek."  
"I still don't trust her."  
"All I ask is that you stop being such a dick. It's not easy for her."  
Derek sighed. "What aren't you telling me, Allison?"  
Allison glanced sideways to where Boyd and Erica were walking into the diner. "She's just scared, Der. Who wouldn't be?"  
"Hey loser." Erica greeted.  
"And on that note, I'm going to go and check on my car, make sure Lydia eats something." Allison got out of her seat and grabbed her coffee.  
Erica snickered. "I thought that was your job."

 

Allison was running her fingers over her car, staring forlornly at the bullet holes in the bumper and at the missing side mirror.  
"What's the verdict?"  
"I'm going to find and kill the assholes who did this." Allison looked up to an approaching Lydia. "You should be eating breakfast."  
"I was, and then Erica decided to throw up." Lydia scrunched her face. "So obviously my appetite is gone."  
Allison hummed as she scanned the rest of the car, checking for scratches or any other signs of damage. It would all be easy enough to fix with enough time. She's vaguely aware of Lydia leaning against the passenger door.  
"So... Erica keeps throwing up."  
"Your point being?"  
"Has she been checked for bites?"  
Allison froze and looked up at Lydia from her crouching position by the wheels. "No."  
Lydia damn near glared down at her. "I thought you were all extremely paranoid and safety conscious."  
"So did I." Allison scoffed. "But look how yesterday turned out."  
"I'm talking about the fact that one of your team mates is throwing up yet you don't seem a little concerned by that."  
Allison got to her feet slowly and looked down at Lydia. "You do realise that there are other illnesses, right?"  
Lydia crossed her arms. "Are you willing to risk your team like that?"  
"She's not infected." Allison muttered, shoving Lydia out of the way. "So you should drop it." She pulled open the door and sighed at the contents of her bag that littered the seat and floor.  
"You're hiding something from me." Lydia pressed up close against her side.  
"Wow. Surprising." Allison rolled her eyes. "It's almost like I don't trust you."  
A hand lands on her hip, fingernails digging into the flesh. "You trusted me enough to let me fuck you, not to mention that time I cut a cannibals throat for you."  
Allison knocked the hand away, cursing under her breath, Lydia did have a point there and a brief glance at the girl and her smirk was all she needed to know that the girl knew she was right.  
"Are you just going to stand there while I clean out the car?"  
"Allison!" Derek yelled. "We need to talk strategy."  
Allison sighed to herself and shared a look with Lydia.  
"I'll clean it up." Lydia waved a hand. "Go do your thing."  
Allison narrowed her eyes at Lydia and back to the passenger seat. "Fine, just don't... Don't break anything or shoot yourself or whatever..." Allison took a few steps towards the diner before she turned back to Lydia. "And don't steal something that you can use to kill me."  
"If sounds like you're going to do that on your own, so don't worry about me." Lydia dismissed with a wave of her hand. Allison shot her another cautious look before walking away.

 

As far as Lydia was concerned, the fact that Allison was willing to leave her unattended near the car and weapons was a big leap in just how much the girl actually trusted her, even if Allison would rather die than admit that.  
Lydia grabbed the almost empty bag and began to carefully pack it again, making sure she doesn't accidentally cut herself in the process, honestly, for what purpose could Allison ever need this many knives? Let alone the crossbow... Lydia painstakingly picked up the stray bullets that had rolled under the seat, faltering when her fingers closed around a pair of handcuffs.  
"Well hello." Lydia muttered. She opened the glove compartment and placed them inside, something tells her Allison wouldn't be open to the idea of being cuffed to the next bed they find but it's definitely worth a try. And if not, well, Lydia wouldn't mind being that one who gets handcuffed.   
Lydia had just finished collecting the last of the bullets from under the seat when she spotted Allison and the others coming towards the cars, Lydia dropped the box back into the bag and did one last scan of the the floor of the car, frowning when she saw a book, at first glance it looked like a bible but curiosity got the better of Lydia and she reached for it, flicking it to the first page and frowning at the familiar shapes and symbols, it was the same as the shapes from the journals and letters Allison had found.  
“Get in Lydia.” Allison called as she approached, “we're leaving in five.” She walked around and got into the drivers seat and Lydia climbed into her own seat.   
“What's this?” Lydia asked, holding the book out for Allison to see.   
Allison pushed a tape into the cassette player and spared the book a glance, her eyes widened slightly. “I found it in a motel on the drive here.” She replied. “It's gibberish.”  
Lydia hummed flicked through the book until she was on the last page and shoved it into Allison's hands.  
“Except, it's the same 'gibberish' as those journals you found two days ago. And that,” Lydia taps on the page. “Is the code to breaking the cipher.”  
Allison's head snapped up to hers. “What?”  
“Get me some paper, and I'll try and decipher it.”  
Allison was out of the car immediately, throwing the door open with more force than Lydia would have thought the girl would inflict onto the car. She watched Allison run over to Boyd's car.   
She returned a few minutes later, notebook and pen in hand and threw them at Lydia.  
“You're enthusiastic.” Lydia noted.  
“Can you blame me? After the crap of the last few days I need this.” Allison puts her aviators on and starts the car, “don't tell the others about this okay? Keep it between us until  
we know it's something worth mentioning.”  
Lydia hummed and reached for the first letter. “My my Allison, do you normally keep so many secrets from your family?” She asked, Lydia had intended it to be teasing, but she sees the way Allison's entire body seems to tense.   
For once, Lydia actually wishes she kept her mouth shut.

 

It was the quietest the car had been since Lydia's arrival, the tape had finished half an hour ago and for once, Allison didn't feel the need to change it, occasionally, she would glance over at Lydia, watch her frown at her work and scribble something down, it looked slow and tedious and Allison didn't envy her one bit.   
She was thankful that today seemed to be a fairly simple drive but they were still unfamiliar with the route and with Erica sick it was likely that they would have to wait until she was better enough to deal with the hours of being cooped up into a car, Allison's main concern was if Lydia kept thinking that Erica could be infected, it could cause more trouble later on but she also wasn't sure how Derek and the others would react if Allison told Lydia the truth about them.   
Allison sighed inwardly, she was drowning in secrets.   
“Allison.”  
“What?”  
“You should read this.”   
Allison glanced at Lydia and the page torn from her notepad. Her eyes looked worried, Allison looked at the road, it was straight for as far as Allison could see and there was something in Lydia's eyes that told her that she had to read this.   
“Give it here.” Allison mumbled, taking the page and holding it against the steering wheel.   
  
_Alan,  
Leto has us training the new recruits, I'm a mentor to a dozen, they're young but there are a few... Leto thinks they may be smart enough for the Trojan horse, though it may take a while. The mercenary is worried about you. She's heard stories of the military planning to move on Ismenian.  
_ _Until we meet again.  
Marin.  
  
_“Marin Morrell.” Allison muttered, frowning at the page.   
“That's the part you focused on?” Lydia scoffed.   
“She's dead and now we know her name.” Allison folded the page and handed it back to Lydia. “You know I have no problem with the Vox.”  
“Unless they try to kill you.”  
“A lot of people try to kill me.” Allison replied, flashing a pointed look at Lydia.  
“What's Ismenian?” Lydia asked.   
Allison pursed her lips and pulled her sunglasses off, hooking them into the neck of her shirt. “It was an underground research lab.”  
“Was?”  
“It was taken over by rebels a year ago, Peter had a team attack, last I heard it was wiped off of the map.”  
“Safe to assume that Alan met a similar fate then.” Lydia frowned.   
“So it would.” Allison ran a hand over her hair. “A trojan horse... That's a trap, right?”  
“That it is.”  
“Can you work on the other letters?” Allison asked. “They obviously had correspondence for a while after that.” She gestured to the stack of letters on the dashboard. “We need to know more.”  
“Are you going to mention this to your team?”  
“Not yet.”  
 _“We're going to pull over in half an hour.”_ Derek's voice cuts through them.   
_“Thank God.”_ Erica groans.   
“I'll see what I can do.” Lydia replied. “Don't think this is going to keep me from irritating you with innuendo though.”   
“I didn't imagine that it would.” Allison smirked.

 

Lydia sat on the hood of the mustang, Allison had made her leave the notebook in the car and now she was watching Allison talk to Danny and Stiles. Stiles seems to be making something out of the mannequin head and judging from Allison's impressed expression, it seemed to be going well.  
“You did well yesterday.” Boyd said.  
Lydia turned her head towards him. “I just did what Allison said. How's Erica?”  
“Tired, she needs to make sure she drinks enough though.”  
Lydia nodded, there was no way Boyd would give her any information, he was as stoic, if not more so than Derek, Derek was open to hating Lydia. Boyd... Well she knows he's dating Erica, that's about it.   
“What's up?” Allison asked, approaching them and offering a bottle of water to Lydia.  
“I was just telling Lydia that she did a good job yesterday.”  
“She did.” Allison agreed. She looked past Boyd and nodded. “I think Erica needs you.”  
Boyd looks between them for a few moments but nods before he turns away from them to walk back towards his car.   
“Worried he'll find out our secret?”  
“Boyd?” Allison asked, climbing onto the hood of the car and sitting beside Lydia, she frowns up at the overcast sky. “He's the least of my worries.”  
Lydia sipped her water and watched Allison for a few moments, Allison turned and caught her gaze, raising an eyebrow.   
“How do you feel about handcuffs?” Lydia asked.   
Surprise flickered over Allison's face. “What do you mean?”  
“Are you into that?”  
“What? Like for sex?”  
“No Allison, for capturing bad guys...” She rolled her eyes for emphasis. “Yes of course for sex.”  
Allison narrowed her eyes and looked away for a moment. “You want me to fuck you while you're handcuffed?”  
“Well...” Lydia drew out the word until Allison met her eyes. “I was hoping that you would let me handcuff you-”  
“Fuck that.”  
“ _ But  _ I know that you don't trust me as far as you can throw me so I figured that was out of the question.”  
“You figured right.” Allison muttered, tipping the bottle of her water back to her lips. Lydia tried not to track the movement of her throat. “But I’m not going to handcuff you.”  
“Seriously?” Lydia frowned, Allison gave her a challenging look. “You don't think it'll be hot?”  
“How would that be hot?”  
“Because, Allison. I'll be tied to the bed, completely helpless and at your mercy.” Lydia shuffles slightly closer, brushes her shoulder with Allison's. “You could tease me until I'm begging and I wouldn't be able to stop you.” She grins, Allison is looking at her the same way as she had last night in the car, “There we go.” She adds.   
Allison closes her eyes for a beat and looks away. “It's too risky.”  
“Well, we have the handcuffs for when you feel up to it.” Lydia winks.   
“But we do have bigger things to worry about.” Allison said.  
“The letters, I know.”   
Allison lifts her head and Lydia turns to see Derek going towards his car. Allison sighs and puts the cap back on her bottle. Time to go then.   
“How quickly can you get through the letters?” Allison asked as she settled into her seat and flicked through her collection of tapes with a frown.   
“I'm not sure.” Lydia replied honestly, it wasn't easy to do, but she's Lydia Martin and she could do anything she put her mind to and that was not limited to translating letters exchanged between the Vox. 

 

_ Marin,   
We're fine here, research is going well and we have traps set up around the lab, we've taken the extra precautions needed. The sooner the Trojan horse is in place the better, we need inside knowledge, Omega is too well designed to be an act of God. Leto's suspicions may be right.   
I've enclosed a copy of my findings so far, for all of our sakes, burn the information once you've committed it to memory.  
Dark times are among us old friend.   
Until we meet again,   
Alan.  
  
  
_ “Too well designed.” Allison repeated. “Is he suggesting what I think he is?”  
“That the virus is man made? I think so.” Lydia frowned, she was already working on the next letter. “But without his findings I can't be sure.”  
“It can't be that well designed though.” Allison mused. “It's only transferable to humans through a bite.”  
“I'm aware.”  
“And you're immune.” Allison added. Lydia's hand automatically went to her side.   
“Again, I'm aware.”  
_ “We have a problem.”  _   
Allison and Lydia shared a look, Allison reached for her comm. “Never a good way to start a conversation, Der.”  
_ “What is it?”  _ Danny asked.   
_ “We're five miles from a city.”  
“And you didn't tell us this sooner because?” _ Erica asked and Allison could hear the irritation in her tone.   
_ “Because it wasn't on my map!”  _ Derek snapped back.   
“I'm seriously questioning his ability to lead your group.” Lydia muttered. “Honestly how have so many of you lived this long?”  
_ “I heard that.”  _ Derek growled.   
“I know.” Lydia replied, smiling.   
“It's fine.” Allison cut off whatever insult Derek was about to say. “We'll just go through, it's on route and it's nothing we haven't handled before. We still have a few hours of daylight left, too.” She added.   
_ “I swear to God if we have a repeat of yesterday I am shoving this mannequin head up your ass Derek.”  _ Stiles joins in.   
Allison flicked off the comm and shook her head. Derek was a good leader, really he was. They just seemed to be hitting so many walls lately, everybody has a bad run, Allison could relate to that if the bullet holes in her shoulder are anything to go by.   
“The gun I gave you yesterday should be in the glove compartment. Your aim is shit but I want you to keep it close to you okay?” Allison said.   
“...Okay.” Lydia replied eventually.

 

_ Alan,   
The new recruits have been trained and we already have more members, Leto has chosen the recruit for the Trojan, she's being called 'Zorro' among her squad. Your findings are alarming, Leto called a meeting between all of her lieutenants.   
If you're right... Then this changes everything.  
What more could they be hiding from us?   
Until we meet again.  
Marin.  
  
  
_ Lydia watched Allison frown at the page, she was undeniably impressed by Allison's ability to drive competently and read at the same time. The city was fast approaching so Lydia began to pack her work away, accepting the letter back from Allison and adding that to the pile, she could see Allison's mind working over time.   
“So that means there's a mole in Lykaion.” She said eventually.   
“Possibly, any ideas?”  
“None. We don't make a habit of socialising.” Allison frowned. “Whatever Alan found, it was enough to scare the leader of the rebels... Which is worrying.”  
Lydia scoffed, that was an understatement. “Do you think that maybe it's time you tell Derek?”  
“No.” Allison replied immediately. “I really doubt he needs the extra stress right now.”  
_ “Guys! This place has a zoo!”  _ Stiles' exclaimed.   
_ “It's empty. _ ” Danny added.  _ “The animals must be long dead with nobody to feed them.”  
“Yay.”  _ Isaac drawled. 

  
  


Of course there was a problem, of  _ course. _   
Lydia had come to the conclusion that this group had the absolute worst luck and judging from the exasperated expression on Allison's face, she agreed entirely.  
By the time they caught up to Derek, Scott, Danny and Stiles, they had already gotten to work on clearing the barricade.   
“What happened?” Lydia asked, eyeing the cars the blocked the entire road.   
“Either there was too much panic and people left their cars, or this is a massive trap.” Allison made a point of checking her guns, Lydia wasn't entirely sure what more she could do with her own gun beyond make sure it was loaded and the safety was off.   
“Let's just move the cars and get out of here.” Allison said after a few more moments, Lydia didn't miss how she left the engine on.   
Lydia followed her out of the car and they walked together to where Stiles was stood on watch.   
“They won't let me move the cars.” He shrugged, the gun in his hand looked out of place and-  
“Stiles point the gun at the ground, you're going to shoot one of us one day.” Allison groaned.   
“Do they actually need our help?” Lydia asked, watching as Derek and Scott pushed the back of a car while Danny controlled the steering wheel.   
“I could probably hot wire a few cars, see if we can speed this along.” Allison shrugged. “But I think we need to make sure this isn't a trap first.” She added.   
“So we just stand here with our guns and look around menacingly?” Lydia asked.  
“Pretty much.”  
“Yep.”  
Lydia sighed. Of course.   


By the time Boyd, Erica and Isaac had caught up to them, Allison had eventually decided to help, Lydia wasn't overly pleased about being dragged in to help, but with Danny, Allison, Boyd and Isaac they were making much faster progress of pushing what looked like the entire fucking cities supply of cars so that they could actually get through.   
Erica and Stiles seemed happy enough to stand off at the side and watch.   
“Oh..” Allison stopped in her tracks, holding out an arm to stop Lydia and by extension the rest of the group as they made their way towards a convertible.   
Derek's hand was already going for his gun. “What is-”  
“Ssh.” Allison waved a hand and crouched slightly, tugging on Lydia's arm. “Look.”  
Lydia followed her gaze to where a deer and it's fawn were grazing from a patch near a park.   
It was the first time Lydia has ever seen a deer, Allison crouched slightly near the hood of the closest car and Lydia followed her, pressing into her side slightly. She was vaguely aware of the rest of the group close behind but she was so entranced by the sight of the deer and her fawn, it was so surreal to see them in such an urban setting, happily moving around the abandoned town.   
“It's good, right?” Allison asked, voice at a whisper. Lydia glanced at her and she was smiling right at Lydia.  
“It's amazing.” Lydia replied.   
Allison gently bumped her shoulder against her own and it was such a strangely tender moment it made Lydia's heart clench.  
“ They must have come from the zoo, once upon a time.” She hears Danny say.   
There was another brief silence among the group and Lydia can pinpoint the exact moment everybody's brains came up with the same realisation.   
Stiles was the one to break the silence.  
“Wait, but if they came from the zoo, then does that mean-” He was cut off by a roar and a blur of movement as a lion leapt over a police cruiser and grabbed the deer by it's throat. Stiles let out a shrill scream and Lydia was frozen.  
“Cars!” Derek growled.  
Allison's arms hooked under Lydia's and dragged her upright. “Moment over, we run now!”  
“No shit!” Isaac yelled.  
“What about the cars?!” Scott asked, shoving at Danny and Stiles.   
Lydia glanced over at the lioness, she chose that moment to lift her head and spot the group, fur dripping with blood.   
“We did what we could! Now we ram them!” Derek yelled.   
“Rear quarter panel” Allison exclaimed, she shoved Lydia ahead. “Minimise the damage!” Lydia turned and saw Allison do the same. “Oh shit.”   
“Allison, catch!” Erica yelled, Lydia watched the blonde throw her shotgun, Allison caught it and in one swift moment, turned towards the lion as it pounced and fired, hitting it directly in the chest.   
The moment seemed to hang, Allison still pointing the gun at the fallen lion despite the huge smoking wound in its chest and the blood pooling around it's body and staining its fur. The group seemed to hold their breath, no doubt listening for the lions pack mates.  
“Oh my god.” Allison sagged, hands on her knees. “That was really violent.”  
She seemed genuinely unnerved and Lydia didn't think twice, she reached over to rub circles into Allison's back.   
“Nice shooting.” Erica complimented, taking the shotgun back from Allison.   
“We should probably finish up and get out of here?” Boyd suggested. “Before we get more lions and god only knows what else.”  
“Definitely” Derek agreed, catching Lydia's eye and flashing a concerned look to Allison.   
“Are you having a panic attack?” Lydia asked, quietly enough so only Allison could hear her.  
“No, no I just-” Allison shook her head and rose to her feet. “I'm fine.”  
Lydia wanted to point out that she definitely didn't look fine but she let it go in favour of turning towards the car, hoping Allison would follow. Lucky for her, Allison did and as soon as she was sat behind the steering wheel, Lydia reached into the back seat and grabbed Allison's bottle of water and pushed it into her hands.   
“What's going on?” Lydia asked. “You've fought wolves, why is this different?”  
“That was a fucking  _lion_ .” Allison replied. She ran a hand over her hair. “It caught us all so off guard.” She shook her head. “We nearly died because we let our guards down to look at a fucking deer.” Allison threw the bottle onto the back seat. Lydia had to roll her eyes because Jesus Chris did she treat every misstep like a personal failure?  
“Allison. I saw you when you saw that deer, you were fucking happy and don't you deny it. I know you.”  
Allison gave a short laugh. “You don't know me.”  
“I know you better than you think.” Lydia replied, reaching back into the glove compartment for the letters and her notepad. “You're just too stubborn to admit it.”  
“Pot, meet kettle.” Allison mumbled.   
“Yeah whatever.” Lydia rolled her eyes. She frowned when she realised that she was on the last letter and informed Allison of such, it didn't really seem to improve Allison's mood. 

  
  
Allison drove steadily and silently, letting Lydia work, it was beyond irritating that Lydia had been right, seeing that deer and her fawn had been an incredible moment and while she was glad to share it with her friends and family and even Lydia on some weird level, it was good to show her that not everything out here was trying to kill them...  
...Right before a lion attacked them but that was beside the point.  
She was just thankful to leave the town behind and get as far away as possible from it. Derek hadn't made any mention of a nearby motel, which wasn't encouraging and it was getting late into the afternoon too, they should be starting to look for somewhere to settle down for the night.   
“How's the letter coming along?” Allison asked. When she didn't get an immediate response she glanced over at Lydia, watching the girl frown at the page in front of her. “What's wrong?”  
“I'm almost finished.” Lydia replied, voice strained. “Think you can wait a few minutes?”  
“Not a problem.” Allison said. She reached forward to flick on her comm. “Found anywhere to stay Derek?”  
 _“I can see a couple of buildings off of the main road, I could do with backup though.”  
_ _“Got you covered Der.”_ Danny spoke up. _“Wait where you are.”  
_ “We'll be right behind.” Allison replied.  
 _“Us too.”_ Boyd added.   
“Try not to get yourself eaten.” Allison smirked.   
 _“Right back at you Ar-”_ Erica began, Allison flicked off the comm hurriedly, glancing in Lydia's direction, the girl hadn't lifted her head from her work and it hadn't been obvious, had it? Allison made a mental note to punch Erica when they stopped, she didn't need any extra anxiety right now, thank you.  
“If you insist on continuing to drag me into potentially dangerous situations, you should probably teach me how to shoot.” Lydia commented idly, scribbling another word down.   
“Probably” Allison agreed. “Are you done?”  
Lydia hesitated for a moment before nodding. “...Yeah.” Her eyes moved over the page. “Shit, yeah.”  
“That bad?” Allison asked, already snatching it out of her hand.

 

_Marin,  
I'm sorry.  
_ _The team brought a specimen back after they returned from Delos. They tracked it after finding a bandit camp, all were dead but one, who later turned rabid. The wolf was injured when they brought it in and the results from the tests...  
_ _As you will see from my findings, it's shocking.  
_ _We always feared that this would happen, it was always a possibility and now the time is upon us but nobody is ready. What hope do we have now?  
_ _I am sending Liam to you with my journals, it's everything I've collected. I know I told you to destroy everything you had but I couldn't, we needed a record, it's the only hope we have of putting a stop to this. You need to stop this Marin. It all falls to you and Zorro now.  
_ _This is my last letter to you,  
_ _I am infected, everybody else is dead. Liam is the only one who remains. Take care of him, he has nobody else.  
_ _Good luck my old friend. May we meet again.  
_ _Alan._

_  
_  
Allison felt a small wave of grief, this man was long dead, he had left his legacy in the form of a few journals for someone who was obviously incredibly important to him, only for her to be shot dead a few weeks later.  
Whatever he had found, it scared him. The question was what?   
The answer lay in the journals, obviously.   
She handed the page back to Lydia, letting her eyes drift back to the road.  
“Are you going to say anything?” Lydia asked.  
“I wonder if that Liam guy is still alive.”  
“Your sense of priorities are really fucked up. What about the wolf? What about Delos?”  
“The wolf is probably dead and Delos sounds like the name of a camp, so I'd guess that's where the rebels live.” Allison explains with a shrug. She can see the buildings clearly now, what looks to be a dive of a bar and a motel next door.  
God, she hoped there was alcohol.  
Lydia huffed beside her. “Great, you're in a fantastic mood.”  
Sometimes this girl just bled sarcasm.

 

Derek meets them as they approach the bar, he holsters his gun as Scott, Stiles and Danny follow him out.  
“Well?” Allison asked.  
“Empty, has been for a couple of weeks by the looks of it.” He replied.  
Allison frowned. “But?”  
He hesitated for a moment so Allison turned to Stiles, raising an eyebrow at him.  
“There's a body out back, they hung him.”  
“You get a good view from the window.” Danny added.   
There was something in their expressions that told Allison that there was more to it than that, Scott seemed to be averting her eyes altogether.   
“Is the motel safe?” Lydia asked.   
“Yeah.” Danny nodded. Allison walked past them into the bar. “Wait Alli, where are you going?”  
“To see the body.” She called back.   
She could feel them following her as she walked through the bar, briefly eyeing the pool table and shelves stacked with bottles as she made her way out of the back door, she could see the body hanging from the tree already.  
She walks towards the tree, grimacing at the sight as she gets close enough.  
He looks like he's been dead for months, no doubt a result from the air and sun speeding up the process, parts of his flesh have been torn away and-  
“What happened to his eyes?” Scott asked quietly.  
A crow caws nearby. “Ever see that Hitchcock movie?” Allison replied. She clenches her hands at her sides and looks at the sign nailed to his chest, words barely eligible from the blood covering it.

  
_Alexander Argent, traitor.  
  
_

An Argent then, whoever he was, he did a good job of hiding for all of these years. She wonders what relation he had to her, was he a cousin? Distant uncle? All this time there had been another and she hadn't known. She hadn't been alone, maybe she still wasn't, maybe there was another Argent out there somewhere.  
Unlikely.  
“Even for an Argent, that's brutal.” Lydia spoke up.  
Allison closed her eyes and counted slowly, she pulled walked towards the tree.  
“What are you doing?” Scott asked.  
“I'm cutting him down.” Allison replied, jumping and easily catching the lowest branch and pulling herself up, she tried not to look at the hollow sockets where his eyes used to be. She climbs high enough and perches herself on a branch and pulls the knife from her boot.   
“I'm sorry.” She whispers, cutting through the rope and wincing as the body hits the ground below.  
“I don't see why you're bothering.” Lydia said, Allison climbed down and met her gaze once she was firmly on the ground.   
Lydia was really going to make this difficult for her, she could tell.  
“I'm bothering because he still deserves a burial.”  
“He's an _Argent._ ”  
“Can someone get a blanket or something to wrap him up in?” Allison asked, ignoring Lydia and walking past her.   
“On it.” Scott replied, she could tell he wanted to be as far from what appeared to be an imminent argument as fast as possible.  
“I have the shovels.” Derek said. “I'll help you dig the grave.”  
“Of all people I wouldn't have thought you would support this, you're a Hale.”  
Allison shared a look with Derek and he turned to Lydia.  
“The Argent's did a lot for this country. They were good soldiers, we can't blame all of them for the mistakes of a few.” Derek said, Allison kind of wanted to hug him, he never once treated her differently because of her name, but it had taken him years to realise that the actions of her aunt and in extension her mother and father had no bearing on the rest of the Argent family.  
“Derek's right.” Boyd spoke up, Allison hadn't even noticed the arrival of the rest of their group. “If it weren't for Chris Argent and his abilities as a leader and a soldier we would have lost the war much sooner. Thanks to the Argent's we avoided a full on nuclear war.”  
“Thanks to the Argent's, our only hope of curing the Omega virus burned down the night the Hale labs burnt.” Lydia shot back. “You can defend their righteous battle during the war but you can't deny that had your family and all of their work not been destroyed by Kate Argent we would have had a cure for this virus a long time ago. We lost the war, they still dropped bombs on us, over half of our population has been decimated and that, _that_ is worse than anything that could have happened to us if we had just lost the war, if we had surrendered. So maybe Chris Argent was a hero for that, but he sealed our fates the day he tried to hide Kate Argent. _That_ is why all Argent's are untrustworthy.” Lydia looked livid and her response had shocked the rest of the group into silence, even Derek seemed taken aback.  
Allison took a deep breath and let her gaze focus on Lydia.  
“So if you had the chance to kill an Argent, would you take it?” She asked.  
“Yes.” Lydia replied, no trace of hesitation in her eyes.  
“Well then,” Allison laughed. “I guess I better teach you how shoot.” She turned back to Derek. “So about those shovels?”  
Derek blinked and cleared his throat. “Right, yeah.” He nodded. “Stiles, Danny, set up the perimeter.”  
“Aye aye captain.” Stiles saluted, shooting Allison an apologetic look as he passed. Danny gave her a quick pat on the shoulder.  
“Boyd, Erica, Isaac, take Lydia and maybe see about fixing dinner?”   
“Sure.” Isaac replied. They all turned to walk back towards the bar, not bothering to acknowledge Lydia.  
“You should go after them.” Allison said. “We'll be out here for a while.”  
Lydia frowned at Allison for a few moments, she looked like she wanted to say something else but then her gaze slides to Derek and she shakes her head gently.  
“Fine, waste your energy on a corpse.” She walks past them towards the bar and it's only when she's out of sight does Allison let out a sigh.  
“You realise that this doesn't make me want to trust her, right?” Derek said.  
“I know.”  
“If she finds out you're an Argent...”  
“Do you think she'll kill me?” Allison asked.  
“She already tried before.” Derek reminded her. He reached into his pocket. “Regardless of if you trust her or not, there's nothing to say she won't try again.”  
“Maybe we should tell her, see what happens.” Allison muses, it _would_ be a sure fire way to stop whatever this is between the two of them and maybe then she can stop with all of these... Feelings.  
But, she doesn't think she wants to.  
It's infuriating being so indecisive.   
“Just warn us if you plan on _that_ suicide mission.” Derek replied.  
“You wouldn't stop me?”  
“Allison, I've learned by now that chances are you're going to do as you damn well please. So long as you don't endanger the group I won't stop you _but_ as your brother I reserve the right to tell you when you're being an idiot.”  
“Likewise.”  
“So, you're an idiot.” He pulls his hand from his pocket and Allison sees the familiar chain of a necklace. “And you shouldn't wear your bullet any more.”   
Allison takes the necklace from him and sighs.  
“I took it from him before you got here, she would have made the connection if she had seen it, and you said that the cannibal recognised it. Maybe it's safer for you if you don't wear it.”  
“Maybe...” Allison replied. She shook her head. “But it's my good luck charm.” Derek opened his mouth to reply but Allison cut him off with a quick gesture to the body “We should get to work.”

 

They were mad at her, it wasn't hard for Lydia to figure out. It wasn't like they really went out of their way to speak to her in the first place, but at least Scott, Stiles and Danny would smile at her, now they seemed to be deliberately avoiding her gaze. Danny was sat in a corner booth, working on his earpieces, Scott, Stiles, Erica and Isaac were playing pool while Boyd sat over their camping stove stirring a pot of soup. She was sat alone next to the window, definitely not watching Allison and Derek digging a grave for a bastard who didn't deserve it and she definitely wasn't mesmerised by the sight of Allison in her t-shirt with those muscles working as she dug.   
Derek's muscles were great too but holy shit Allison.  
And Allison was obviously in a bad mood, she had been since the lion attack and it had only gotten worse as the day had gone on, a thought that Lydia was actually pleased with on some level, angry Allison was hot, that and it was easier to hate Allison when she was in one of her 'I don't have any feelings' moods.  
Honestly any reason to keep her from finding any of Allison's qualities appealing really.  
Lydia caught a glimpse of Isaac leave the group and Scott drift over to Boyd as Erica set up for another game, they're all so familiar and move around each other with such ease all it does is remind Lydia that she's only temporary, she'll be gone soon and they'll carry on to the next job and no doubt get themselves into more shit and almost die.   
And Lydia hates to admit that it bothers her.  
She looks back out of the window with an agitated sigh and watches Derek wrap the body in a blanket while Allison stands with the shovel resting along her shoulder, hands dangling from it as she watches.   
Lydia is surprised when Isaac takes a seat opposite her, two large sticks and what looks like a small bundle of rope on the table between them.  
He barely spares her a glance before he begins to work, assembling the sticks into the shape of a cross.  
“Why are you staring at me?” He asked, not bothering to look up.  
“Why are you doing that?”  
“To show respect. It's what people do.” He glances up and raises an eyebrow at her expression. “What?”  
“Nothing, I just think it's hypocritical.”  
Isaac stopped and looked up fully, shifting to lean back in his seat. “Hypocritical how?”  
“I didn't see any of you running to dig graves for the Vox back at the motel.”  
Isaac frowned. “That was different.”  
Lydia scoffed. “Different how? Because they're Vox? I thought you didn't judge based on who they worked for-”  
“For a start,” Erica interrupted, game of pool forgotten as she dragged a chair over to their booth and sat down, twisting the chair so that it was backwards and sitting down. “There was too many of them, secondly, there was a storm that night and finally, Allison was injured, because of _you._ Remember? The fact that they're Vox had nothing to do with it.”  
“We try to bury people when we can.” Boyd speaks up. “It's important to us.”  
“We've all lost people we love.” Danny says quietly from his spot, “Allison and Derek especially.”  
Lydia frowns, she can tell they're trying to guilt trip her. “I just don't understand how you don't hate the Argent's.”  
“We hate Kate Argent.” Stiles said from his spot beside Danny. “It's like you said, she destroyed the Hale labs, she pretty much killed Derek's entire family as a result, but you're missing the point.”  
Lydia glared. “What?”  
“She didn't just kill the Hales, she killed her own family too. Because of her the entire Argent family have been hunted down, tortured, humiliated and killed.”  
“You can't judge an entire group of people on the actions of a few.” Scott added. “We don't treat the Vox like they're going to kill us and against our better judgement we trusted a group of strangers who turned out to be cannibals...”  
“We're cautious, we have to be.” Boyd said.   
“But nobody is perfect. We can all attest to that.” Isaac shrugged, tying the cross together. “Especially not you. Judge people on their actions, not their names or who they work with.”  
“None of you trust me.” Lydia pointed out. “This is the most any of you have spoken to me.”  
“We're cautious. We don't know why we have you and you tried to kill Allison.”  
“Allison trusts you.” Stiles got to his feet and walked over to where Boyd was pouring the soup into bowls and began to help. “So that works for us.”  
“Derek will kill you if you try to hurt her anyway.”  
Lydia doesn't like the tightness in her chest as the group drift away to get their dinner and leave her to her thoughts, only Isaac remains, tying the cross in place.   
“She doesn't trust me.” She said, shocked at how quiet her voice is.  
Isaac gives her an unreadable look, glances to his friends before looking back at Lydia. “Then you really need to pay more attention.” He replied, voice equally as quiet. He pushes the cross towards her and leaves the seat, he gives her an expectant look and glances out of the window before following the group. She watches them for a moment, none of them actually seem to be making an attempt to eat, they're just... Hovering?  
Lydia looked back at the cross again. “You guys want me to go out there, don't you?”  
“You're not eating until you do.” Boyd replied.   
Lydia picked the cross up and frowned, she could kind of understand where they were all coming from in their reasoning for burying the Argent, she knows that if something were to happen to her, God forbid, she wouldn't like to be left for the birds to eat.  
She got to her feet and made her way out of the bar, walking into the cool evening air and watching as Allison and Derek were patting down the dirt with their shovels. Derek spotted her first and glared, silently threatening until he caught sight of the cross in her hands and she watched his expression soften considerably. Allison lifted her head and Lydia could see the confusion on her face and Derek simply nodded towards Lydia, Allison turned and her eyes widened in surprise.   
“What are you doing?” Allison asked.   
Lydia held up the cross as explanation. “Isaac made this.”  
Allison looked past Lydia and smiled. “Of course he did.”  
“And I'm sorry.” Lydia added, pushing the cross into Allison's hands.  
“What for?”   
Lydia gave a heavy sigh, apologies were not her forte, being sincere with them too? It was new to her. “For everything I said earlier.” She glanced at the grave. “I don't- I can't forgive the Argent's for what happened, but I guess at the end of it all, we're all trying to survive, we all die one day.”  
Allison let out a quiet laugh, holding the cross tightly in her hand and turning back to the grave. “That's for sure.” She agreed.   
“Well done Lydia.” Erica called, Lydia looked over her shoulder and isn't at all surprised to see the rest of the team there, all wearing various smug looks. “You're officially a human being.”  
“And you get dinner.” Stiles winked.  
Lydia actually couldn't help but smile back, the light banter was new and.. Well, unfamiliar, when did they start calling her by her name? Shit, when did they all start treating her like she wasn't a bomb?  
Lydia was pulled from her thoughts by Allison holding the cross in place while Derek hammered it into place with his shovel. Once done the duo took a few paces back and Allison was so close to Lydia she could hear her breathing. The group were silent for a minute to pay respect.   
The moment passed the second Erica clapped her hands together and announced cheerily. “Okay, dinner is ready.”   
Allison rolled her eyes but her expression was fond.   
“Lets head in then.” Derek said

 

“Is there a reason why you're moping out here?”   
Allison turned her head towards the source of the voice, surprised to see Isaac walking towards her with a bottle and two glasses in his hand. “I'm not moping.” Allison replied. “I just needed some air.” She gestured to the bar. “It's stuffy in there.”  
Isaac hums, moving over to lean against the hood of Derek's car with her and setting the two glasses beside them. He unscrews the bottle- whiskey, Allison notes, God he's going to try and get her drunk, and fills both glasses halfway.   
“And it had nothing to do with Lydia?”  
“No.” Allison shook her head. “The bar looks like the one I got shot in.”  
Isaac actually looks apologetic. “I forgot about that.”   
Allison shrugs and takes one of the glasses, swirling the amber liquid around before taking a cautious sip, When she looks back to Isaac, he's lighting a cigarette.  
“Jesus, Isaac!”  
“What?”  
“We've got enough problems as it is, you wanna add lung cancer to that list? Where did you even get those?”  
Isaac laughed, taking a drag and tipping his head back to blow the smoke out, he reaches into his shirt pocket to produce a packet of cigarettes. “I found a machine, there were half a dozen boxes there.” He flips the lid and offers her the pack.  
“God, no thanks. Like I said, enough to worry about, I don't want to get addicted to something that I can barely get access too, I'll smoke on my deathbed thank you.”  
Isaac rolled his eyes and put the cigarettes away. “You're so uptight.”  
“So I've been told.”  
“I don't think she'd kill you if she knew you were an Argent.”  
Allison huffed and took another long gulp of her drink, immediately regretting it. “I don't like it when you're serious, go back to sarcasm.”  
“Look, we all have our ways with dealing with shit, you like to ignore it until you're losing your damn mind-”  
“Is that why you've all decided to suddenly be nice to her?”  
“Scott Is worried that you would have a nervous breakdown if you kept fighting with us, Derek _and_ Lydia, we've noticed that you aren't eating much y'know.”  
“I'm doing fine.” Allison huffed. “I eat when I'm hungry and I sleep when I'm tired, it isn't rocket science.”  
Isaac finished his cigarette and dropped it to the ground, stubbing it out with the toe of his shoe. “Whatever you say Argent.” He mumbled. “Just don't push people away because you're a stubborn ass.” He winked as he pushed away from the car and walked back towards the bar. “Don't be afraid to love!” He called back.  
Allison frowned as she stared at her glass. “Love Is for the weak.” She mumbled. Now she wasn't sure that she liked the idea of the team being nice to Lydia, Erica and Isaac were intent on making them have sex constantly, Danny thought Lydia would be a good friend and Stiles knew that they made out, frequently.  
This was a disaster.   
And she couldn't stay out here much longer, it would only be a matter of time before someone else decided to come and give her a pep talk.  
She finished her drink in one and grabbed the bottle before walking back to the bar.  
  


“Alli!” Stiles called from the pool table. “You in?”  
“Maybe next round.” Allison replied. She took a seat at the bar and poured herself another drink. Barely a minute passed before she saw Lydia take the seat beside her, Allison reached over the bar and grabbed another glass, setting it down in front of Lydia and filling it a quarter of the way.  
“Hm, trying to get me drunk, Allison?”  
“I wouldn't dream of it.” Allison replied. “The last thing I need is for you to be drunk too.”  
“Well maybe you don't drink too much either, this stuff is strong.” Lydia frowned.   
Allison laughed. “Is that concern I hear in your voice?”  
Lydia scoffed. “Please, the last thing _I_ need is to see what you're like drunk. You're emotionally stunted enough as it is thank you.”  
Allison rolled her eyes, to be honest she actually agreed, she really didn't need to be drunk, it wasn't something she made a habit, especially not in the middle of a job, it was too risky, they could be ambushed at any time.   
“So,” Lydia began. “Will you teach me to shoot?”  
“So you can go Argent hunting?” Allison asked, she grimaced at the bitterness that found its way into her voice.   
“I mean in general, it's pointless having a tool if I don't know how to use it.”  
Allison nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, in the morning, deal?”  
“Deal.”  
“Hey losers.” Erica slid up behind them and dropped a set of keys into Allison's drink. “Try not to drink too much, you still need to drive remember.”  
“Erica, are you being responsible? Am I hallucinating?”  
Erica slapped Allison around the back of her head. “I'm not afraid to kick your ass, remember.”  
“Duly noted.” Allison mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. Lydia reached into the glass and fished the keys out.  
“Shall we go up?” She looked over her shoulder. “Looks like the others are turning in too.”  
Allison glances over her shoulder, Derek is already gone and Scott and Isaac look like they're in the process of heading out too. Stiles and Derek are messing with what looks like a radio at their table, no doubt to do with the perimeter they've set up around the buildings. Allison turns back to Lydia and tries to swallow the lump in her throat at Lydia's burning gaze.   
“I'll go get our bags then.” She managed to say.  
  


Allison grabbed the bags from the car, pausing to grab the journals from the glove compartment for Lydia, not at all surprised that the handcuffs were missing, she does have the coherency to wonder where and _how_ Lydia had managed to hide them all evening. Instead, she focuses on going to their room and avoiding the gaze of her team as she passes them.

  
Allison closes the door, dropping the bags as she turns to lock it.  
“Fun fact.” Lydia starts, Allison turns to her and okay holy _shit_. Lydia lies back, propped up on her forearms as she smirks at Allison, dressed in just her underwear and bra. Allison can't stop staring and she blames the whiskey entirely. “Our room is other side of the motel.”  
“Good to know.” Allison replied. “Was it wise to strip like that? Anyone could've come in.”  
“But they didn't.” Lydia shrugged. “And _you_ are wearing far too many clothes for this.”  
Allison hummed as she pulled her shirt over her head and threw it to the ground. “You're so damn forward.”  
Lydia sat up as Allison walked towards the the bed. “What? Do you want candles? Romantic dinner?” knelt at the foot of the bed and flicked open the button of Allison's jeans. “Didn't peg you as the slow and sensual kind Allison.” She smirked up at Allison before she leant in and sank her teeth into Allison's hip.  
“Jesus.” Allison groaned, pushing a hand into Lydia's hair.   
“What?” Lydia smiled up at her innocently. “You said no marks in visible places.” She licks at the bite. “Do you plan on stripping for anybody else any time soon?”  
“Shit, no.”  
“Good.” She bit the other hip, harder this time, unzipping the jeans and beginning to push them down. “Now take those off and I'll give you the best head of your life.”  
Allison definitely blamed the whiskey for how fast the jeans came off and found herself on the bed, hands tangled in Lydia's hair and trying to pull her closer. Allison was beginning to believe that Lydia was definitely incredible at giving head while Lydia takes her apart inch by burning inch until she's writhing on the bed and biting on her lip to keep from begging.  
  


“You know I'm going to make you scream one day.” Lydia muttered as she slid up Allison's body, leaving long, biting kisses along her stomach and breasts, the sight of Allison wrecked underneath her was great, amazing even, but she knew she could do _more_.  
Allison replied by biting down on Lydia's lip. “Good luck with that.”  
Lydia stared down at her thoughtfully and shifted to straddle her hips. “So Allison, what are your kinks? Will you let me handcuff you?”  
Allison's expression was serious. “No.”  
“Because you don't trust me?”  
Allison huffed. “I trust you enough to let you fuck me while we're out here. Be happy with that.”  
Lydia stared down at Allison, rubbing her thumbs over the prominent bite marks on her hips, the girl did have a point there, it spoke volumes about how much Allison did actually trust her, even if it wasn't something she would willingly admit.  
“Why do you wanna know my kinks anyway?”  
Lydia made a thoughtful sound as she trailed a hand along Allison's body, it really was a good body and if the girl would ever stay still for longer than ten fucking minutes Lydia would like to actually appreciate that thank you.  
Her hand reaches Allison's throat and presses down gently, it's enough to make Allison grind her hips up into Lydia, well, okay.  
“Did I just find your kink, Allison?” Lydia asked. Allison glared up at her but didn't respond. Lydia hummed again and nudged the girls legs apart so that she could fit in between. “Do you trust me enough to let me try?” She asked.  
Allison clearly hesitated and Lydia sat patiently, she wasn't that much of an asshole thank you. “I don't know.” Allison replied. Well, at least she was being honest.   
Lydia moved her hand away. “I'm not going to do anything unless you trust me enough to do it.”  
“Careful Lydia, I can hear concern again.” Allison replied, her tone is teasing but there's something serious in her expression, something inquisitive as she studies Lydia and it's a little disconcerting.  
“Never mind.” Lydia mumbled, beginning to pull away, she doesn't like that look in Allison's eyes, she doesn't like how it makes a shiver run down her spine. As she's pulling away, Allison sits up, wrapping an arm around Lydia's shoulder and flipping them.   
“Where are the handcuffs?” She asked.   
Lydia smirked at her and reached under the pillow, the metal cold against her fingers. Allison took them from her and paused for a moment.  
“Keys?”  
There was a brief silence between them that was only broken when Allison snorted, moving off of her and walking over to the bags.  
  


“What are you doing?” Lydia called over to her.   
“You forgot the keys, idiot.” Allison replied as she dug through the contents of her bag. “And I’m not breaking my only pair of handcuffs because you wanted to get your kink on.”   
She could hear Lydia mumble something under her breath, no doubt an insult and could only roll her eyes in response. It took a few minutes to find the keys and by the time Allison turned back to Lydia, the younger girl definitely looked more than a little frustrated.  
“Happy now?” Lydia asked as Allison climbed back onto the bed and dropped the keys next to her gun and picked up the handcuffs, leaning back to straddle Lydia's thighs.  
“So how do you wanna do this?” Allison asked. “Headboard or behind your back?” She eyes the headboard and knows which one she prefers. Lydia just raises an eyebrow and raises her arms above her head and looks expectantly at Allison.   
“Well okay then.” Allison mumbled, rising up and fixing the cuffs in place. “Tight enough?”  
“Tighter.”  
“Lydia,” Allison frowned. “I don't want to bruise-”  
“I'm not glass, Allison. I'm not going to break. And I'll just wear one of your hoodies if you're so worried about your brother seeing them.”  
Allison tensed slightly, hesitating for a moment before complying and tightening the cuffs more. “You should probably have a safe word.” Allison mumbled, catching Lydia's lips in a quick kiss, pausing to bite on her lip. “Just in case.”  
“Mustang.”  
Allison trailed kisses down Lydia's neck and bit down on her collarbone. “Good choice.” She slid her hands along Lydia's ribs as she moved down her body.   
“Thought you'd appreciate it.” Lydia replied, already sounding a little breathless.  
Allison hummed as she dragged her lips along Lydia's thighs, biting down and smiling when she hears Lydia pull against her restraints.  
“So,” Allison lifted her head enough just so that she could see Lydia staring back at her. “how many times can I make you come before you beg?” Lydia had made her beg the night before and Allison definitely wanted to level the playing field a little.  
“Are you going to keep talking? Or are you going to put that tongue to better use?” Lydia asked, hips lifting off of the bed. Allison grinned and bit Lydia's other hip as she dug her fingertips into Lydia's hips to pull her back down to the bed.

 

Lydia's thighs were still trembling when Allison let her out of the cuffs, it took physical effort to pull herself into a sitting position. Allison wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand, a smug grin in place. If Lydia could make words work she would definitely be throwing a few choice words at her.   
She couldn't even remember how many times she had come, all she knew was that she was exhausted and Allison was turning away from her and moving to sit at the foot of the bed, reaching for her clothes.   
Lydia rubbed idly at her wrists, inspecting them, it was too soon to tell if they would bruise or not, she had a feeling that they would though, based on the past couple of hours.   
She lifted her head again and her eyes fell on the bullet wounds on Allison's shoulder. Allison's body tensed after a few moments, head turning slightly.   
“We were in a city,” Allison began. There was a long pause where she was clearly trying to decide how much she should say. “I was supposed to clear a bar, check it for... Supplies. I went in alone, I knew I shouldn't have, but I did it anyway. I had nobody to watch my back and I was ambushed by bandits.” Lydia manages to get her legs working enough to move closer to Allison. “Jackson comes running in, all cocky and heroic, took them all out with that gun.” She gestures vaguely to where the colt lies. “And managed to stem the bleeding for long enough for Scott to get there to patch me up enough so that I wasn't going to bleed out on them.” She sighs. “I could have died that day because I got ahead of myself, Jackson could have died saving my ass.”  
Lydia couldn't say what made her do it, but the next thing she knows, she has one arm curled delicately around Allison's waist and she's got her lips pressed against the scars. She feels Allison freeze against her.  
“Well you aren't dead.” Lydia replied after a few tense moments, she cleared her throat and is suddenly glad that Allison isn't looking at her. “And I am sorry about Jackson.”  
Allison nods and pulls her shirt on, getting to her feet and walking over to her bag and pulling out the stack of journals.  
“Why did you bring them in?” Lydia asked.  
Allison dropped them onto the bed. “In case you got bored.” She moved to turn away and Lydia grabbed her wrist before she could.  
“Where are you going?”  
“I-”  
“No.” Lydia cut her off and tugged her towards the bed. “You're going to lie down and sleep.” Allison stared at her with an unreadable expression. “God, I'll even put clothes on if it's bothering you that much.” She rolled her eyes. “But you aren't sleeping, you think I haven't noticed? Derek's going to start blaming me if those bags under your eyes get any darker.”   
“I can hear concern again.” Allison replied half heartedly.   
“Please,” Lydia scoffed. “If you drop dead I may as well say goodbye to whatever life I have left, Derek _will_ kill me if something happens to you.”  
Allison made a sound of agreement and Lydia desperately tried not to think of the possibility that Allison not sleeping _was_ because of her, but there was no way, no way at all.  
“You don't even have to spoon me.” Lydia said. Allison actually laughed at that and pulled away.   
“Good because for a second there I was worried you were getting emotional on me.”  
Lydia scoffed again. “Love is for the weak Allison, I thought you knew that.” Allison threw a t-shirt at Lydia and dropped down onto the bed next to her.   
“Agreed.” Allison replied, reaching over to check her gun before setting it back in place.  
“And I'm turning the lights off.” Lydia added, ignoring Allison's heavy sigh.

  
  
Allison woke with her nose buried in Lydia's curls. Cursing to herself, she tried to roll away, realising that her right arm was trapped underneath Lydia's body. Allison groaned inwardly as she slowly began to pull herself from Lydia until she could finally roll onto her back. She knew it had been a bad idea yet she had let Lydia drag her into the bed.   
She did feel a little better after a few hours sleep, it was still dark out which made Allison just sigh more, there was no way she would be able to get back to sleep now.   
After a few minutes of debating with herself, Allison got up, holstering her gun and slowly making her way over to where her boots lay. She took her time lacing them up before sliding her jacket on and sparing one last glance to a still sleeping Lydia, Allison knew she'd be fine on her own for a few hours, Danny and Stiles had a good alarm system rigged up around the building and she was essentially going out to patrol but it didn't really help the spark of guilt Allison was painfully aware of in her chest.  
Without a sound, Allison unlocked the door and let herself out, hoping that nobody else was up, she really wasn't in the mood to talk.

  
  
Lydia wasn't surprised that Allison had left, she was surprised that she hadn't noticed that she had woken Lydia up, or if she had, she hadn't given anything away to show it. In a way, she was glad about it, when she had woken to Allison draped over her it had been impossible to go back to sleep and it had been infuriatingly difficult to focus on anything other than where Allison was touching her.   
And now she couldn't sleep because the bed was cold.   
This was getting ridiculous.   
Lydia sat up and reached for one of the journals with one hand and the lamp with the other, she may as well be productive with her time if she was stuck being awake without Allison to fuck or annoy.   
  
  
Allison sat on the hood of her car, flash light resting beside her as she sipped from her bottle of water, she was content to watch the stars until the sun rose, she thought back to what Derek had said about her necklace and reached up to grab it instinctively. It was more than just a necklace, it was a real bullet for a start, an old tradition of her family, she couldn't just take it off, that would defeat it's entire purpose- not that Derek knew what that was, if he did he would have probably taken it from her and thrown it in a lake a long time ago.   
Allison sighed and closed her eyes, leaning back against the wind shield, she couldn't keep lying to him forever, he needed to know Lydia was immune, he needed to know about the letters, she couldn't keep this up forever.  
A sound from the trees brought her out of her thoughts, right hand moving to her gun while her left reached for the flash light. She froze as she listened, another rustle, there was no breeze in the air to be the source of the sound. Allison slid off of the car and took a few steps closer, pausing just short of the security system.   
She heard branches snapping and could just about make out a figure stepping out from the trees, Allison flicked the flash light on and shined it at them.  
It was a man, dishevelled, no older than early thirties, maybe. He looked enraged as he staggered towards her, breaking into a run.   
She saw the blood dripping from his nose, the black veins around his eyes, the light made his irises look _red.  
_ Rabid.  
Allison pulled her gun from its holster and fired, the bullet hitting him square in the forehead, he made a strangled growl before dropping to his knees and eventually falling forward onto his face.  
Allison kept her gun trained on him for a minute, listening for any other sounds. His head couldn't have been more than two inches away.   
Once she was convinced that there was nothing else coming, she ran to her car and grabbed a pair of disposable gloves from the trunk (thank you Danny) She walked back towards the body and stepped closer, faintly aware of an alarm ringing somewhere, no doubt from Derek's room, she rolled the man onto his back and shone the flash light over him, rabid, definitely. Allison had seen it enough times in the past to recognise it. She checked his neck and his shoulders before shining the light over both of his arms, frowning as she did so.   
“Allison!?” Derek yelled, she could hear him running towards her.   
Allison kept her flash light trained on the man, there were no obvious tears in his clothing, nothing that could have been made by anything other than getting snagged on a few branches. She pulled the dog-tags from his neck. _Parrish.  
_ He was a Vox.   
“Allison, what happened?”   
She lifted her head to look at Derek, the worry was evident in his face, his eyes on the body, grip like a vice on his gun.  
Allison gestured to the body and stood up. “He was a rabid.” She looked past him to where the rest of the group were coming towards them, including Lydia, who had obviously gotten dressed in a hurry and was trying to make herself look less dishevelled.   
Allison cleared her throat, looking back from the body to to Derek and the others.  
“And I can't find any bite marks.”

 

 

 


End file.
